by Joe Jackson
“I can’t believe I’ve been looking for you for sixty years and you’ve been a part of me this whole time!” one of them growled.
“You don’t honestly think them stupid enough to fall for that, do you?” said the other.
“Kill him! He’s stolen everything from me!” the first shouted, and soon Marshal Saracht and Kari got a good hold of the other. Enraged, the one Kari and the marshal had a hold of shook them off and charged at the other, whom Eli had just grabbed.
Kari and her companions hardly even registered what happened next. One of them drove his knee into the other’s groin, lifted him clear off the floor, spun, and threw him through the study’s massive window. Shredded by the breaking glass and so close to the tower, there was no way whichever had just been thrown out would be able to glide to safety. Kari hardly heard Markus and the twins leave the room as they made their way down to see which of the two had fallen. Her attention was fully fixed on the form before the window, looking down through the darkness, and Kari realized the air rushing in from outside would make the chill of the demon impossible to detect if it was still present. There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room waited for the remaining Black to reveal which it was.
The massive half-demon regarded Eli for a moment, and then spun around to meet the shocked gazes of the demonhunter and the priests. Kari thought it might be the real Kaelin Black, but then that terrible grin crossed his face. “That was technically suicide, wasn’t it?” he asked before letting forth a chilling cackle.
“Lord Black!” Marshal Saracht screamed, and he ran from the room.
Eli drew his hammer quickly and tried to slam it into the side of BlackWing’s knee, to drive the massive half-demon down to all fours. The massive half-demon caught the hammer and backhanded Eli hard, but BlackWing didn’t have his bladed cesti on, so the blow didn’t seem to hurt Eli particularly badly. Eli stumbled and tried to shake off the hit, and he drove back in at the same time Kari did. The two tried to flank the demon-possessed duplicate, hoping to buy the priests enough time to exorcise the evil spirit.
“We cast you out, demon! By the light of dawn, we cast you back into the darkness!” Piotyr shouted over the sound of the wind whistling past the shattered window. Deirdre joined him and they repeated their damning shout, and soon Master Vlad and Master Devin did so as well, calling upon Ambergaust and Zalkar to aid in the cause.
“Fools, I am the darkness,” the demon said, projecting its screeching, haunting voice out through BlackWing. “I am the darkness in your world. I will blanket all that you know and hold dear in fear, death, and shadow before I am done. You are powerless against me.”
BlackWing’s claws and fangs began to drip with venom, and he threw Eli to the side and rose to his feet. Kari grabbed the massive half-demon by the throat and bent him over backwards effortlessly. She partially impaled him on several shards of broken glass in the shattered pane. A voice came from her mouth, but it was not hers, nor were the thoughts behind it. “They may be powerless against you, demon, but I am not,” Sakkrass spoke through Kari in the common tongue. “Flee! Flee from my blessed light, for anywhere the sun touches upon Citaria, my eyes will find you. Scurry into the shadows and hide from me, for soon, I shall come for you myself, and you will know the searing pain of my blessed light.”
Impaled as he was, BlackWing concentrated and teleported away, and Kari nearly fell face-first onto the blood-coated shards of glass. She caught herself, and Eli helped get her to an upright position. “Where’s he gone?” the half-corlyps asked. “And why did you just say that?”
Kari didn’t answer right away. She straightened out and tried to catch her breath, and she glanced at the broken window and hoped Lord Black would be all right. While her breathing slowed, she closed her eyes briefly. Thank you, father, she thought silently. When she opened her eyes again, she turned to face Eli and the curious priests. “That was Sakkrass speaking,” Kari explained. She didn’t miss the fact that Master Vlad was the only person other than Eli to not appear confused by the name. “BlackWing’s gone; I doubt we’ll be seeing him again any time soon. But that means that was Lord Black that he threw out the window. We’d better get down there and check on him.”
Master Vlad grabbed Kari by the arm when she tried to run past him, and his eyes searched hers as he held her in a gentle grip. “You know Lord Sakkrass?” he asked.
“Well, technically, I’m his daughter,” Kari said. The priest’s eyes went even wider. “But story time can wait until later. Right now, we need to make sure Lord Black survives.”
*****
Kaelin Black survived the fall. He was taken to Ambergaust’s church at Master Vlad’s direction, where the many priests of Temple Street were all contributing to help him mend. Kari wasn’t the only one surprised by the old Earl’s toughness; nearly any other man would’ve been killed by the fall. Other than cuts from the glass and some missing claws from having used the wall to slow his fall, Black didn’t sustain all that much damage. His lower legs and ankles were fractured from the impact, but the priests assured Kari that he would be up and about in days.
BlackWing was gone without a trace, and even a repeat of the arcane seal spell by Dominick showed no sign of the shadow demon. He also detected no trace of Emma, and any lingering doubt that there might be another Turillia duplicate was put to rest. Barcon was back to about as normal as it had ever been under Kaelin Black’s rule. Dominick was glad to hear that he was out of immediate danger, and he decided to put a long-term version of his arcane seal spell around the city in case BlackWing or Emma returned. Kari made sure to thank the wizard for his help, and bid him stay safe in the months to come.
Kari returned to Black’s tower after meeting with Dominick, and Eli accompanied her on both legs of her trip. Sherman and Marshal Saracht were both waiting in the tower’s lower level as Kari had requested, and the men seemed to be chatting lightly about everything that happened. They looked up when Kari entered the tower, and then they rose to their feet in unison in the presence of the Lady. Kari waved for them to sit back down, and she took a seat near the fire. Once she was seated, all three men took their seats, and Kari chuckled inside at the thought that she might be making a gentleman out of Eli.
She brushed aside the thoughts and turned to Sherman. “I have a message for you from Sharyn, but it might be something you want to hear in private. It’s up to you.”
“I cannot imagine it’s something embarrassing. What is it?” Sherman returned.
Kari glanced at Eli and he shrugged. “Sherman, there’s no easy way to tell you this, but I don’t think it’s as bad as it might sound,” she said, and it was clear she had piqued the marshal’s interest as well. “Sharyn isn’t just a ranger from the Sandur network who tracks and studies the werewolves...she is a werewolf, Sherman.”
“Tell me you jest, my friend,” the young paladin said, looking to Eli for some sign that it was a joke. The demonhunter shook her head. “How did you find this out?”
“She saved my life again tonight,” Kari answered. “And then she took Turillia’s life when I had her in custody. I saw the three rings in the werewolf’s left ear and I knew it was her, so I chased her out onto the plains until I found her and the rest of her pack. I talked to them for a little while, and, well, I don’t think they’re typical werewolves. So like I said: I don’t think it’s as bad as it sounds.”
Marshal Saracht was shocked by Kari’s words, an unusual amount of surprise showing through that stoic façade of his. Sherman, on the other hand, seemed alarmed. “Kari, I was kissing her…I could be infected!” he protested.
Kari held her hand up and shook her head before the paladin could get too worked up. “She said that’s not possible,” she interrupted. “She said her pack aren’t lycanthropes but natural shape-shifters, and she swore to me that there is no way for her to ‘curse’ you or anyone else by means of a bite, scratch, kiss, or whatever.”
It was clear Sherman didn’t know what
to think or feel, and the silence of Marshal Saracht and Eli didn’t seem to help ease his tensions at all. Kari leaned forward in her seat and gave the young paladin’s knee a squeeze. “Sherman, she likes you,” she said, but he still looked doubtful. “I mean she really likes you; she just wasn’t sure how to even tell you that she’s a werewolf. But she wants to see you again, and asked me to tell you that. She wasn’t just using you for her amusement.”
“By the Shepherd, what will Lord Garant think?” Sherman muttered.
“What difference does that make?” Kari asked. “Yea, this will take a bit of an open mind for people to deal with, but I mean…she’s a pretty girl, Sherman. A real pretty girl, and she likes you a lot. Lord Garant’s job is to make a paladin out of you, not decide who or what makes a suitable mate.” Sherman beheld her curiously, so Kari illustrated her point. “Sherman, in my previous life, no one would have been happy with me dating a man like Grakin. If you think you love her, don’t be afraid of what other people think. It’s about you two, not anyone else.”
Eli made an odd sound and rubbed his chin with a finger. “She’s got a point, kid,” he said. “Don’t let anyone else decide whether or not a woman is right for you.”
“There is…one other thing you should know about her,” Kari said.
Eli chuckled. “Must be a killer if it trumps the fact that she’s a werewolf.”
“Interesting choice of words,” Kari said, and she clasped her hands before her and met Sherman’s gaze evenly. “She’s been dead before, Sherman, just like me. She was resurrected by someone about twelve years ago, right about the same time I was.”
“Gods,” the young paladin said as he gave it some thought. “I thought she seemed older than her years, but this…well, it’s a lot to think about. It was – and still is – enough of a surprise that you were resurrected, my friend. If she was resurrected as well, around the same time, what does this all mean?”
“That’s something we’re going to have to work to find out,” Kari answered with a shrug.
“How can I contact her, should I decide to?”
“You can send a message out to the ranger network, but honestly…I have a feeling if you don’t see her before you leave, you’ll meet her again back home,” Kari said. She placed her hand on top of Sherman’s, and he took it in his own and kissed it.
“Well, I certainly have a lot to think about,” Sherman said, and he stood. “I think I will go speak to Katarina about this. She will probably understand better than most.”
Kari, Eli, and Marshal Saracht bid Sherman farewell, and once it was just the three remaining, the marshal straightened up and stared at Kari. “So, Lady Vanador, you said you had something to speak to me about after the demon was taken care of?”
Kari regarded Eli, and he nodded his assent once again. “You and your men were very helpful to me, and while normally I wouldn’t have anything to pay you in return, this time is different,” the demonhunter said.
The marshal leaned forward. “No payment is necessary, Lady. I was helping you to defend my liege’s vassal and his hold. If any should receive reward, it is you and your friends.”
Kari waved off his words. “I came across some very valuable information while we hunted Turillia. Or rather, Eli did. It’s possible you already know this, but from everything I’ve seen, I’m guessing you don’t.” The marshal’s brows rose. “The Black Dragon Society is based in the church of Achirun across the street.”
“You must be joking,” Saracht said, and his expression hardly changed.
“She’s not,” Eli said. “You won’t find the entire Society there, but that’s the reason they’ve manipulated your boss for so long. If you hit them hard, you can cut off their head, and take a lot of their more brilliant minds away from them. As it stands, they should be without BlackWing now; if you strike, they may come apart completely.”
“You’re bloody serious about this, aren’t you?” the marshal said, his stoicism cracked. Kari and Eli both nodded. “Gods and angels, they’ve been right under our noses this entire time? How many times have I stood by Lord Black’s side when he went over there to speak to them on a matter of law, or when they came to bring some complaint of the people to his attention? How could we have been so blind?”
“You were looking for BlackWing and the people who work for him, not at the people who help you,” Eli said.
“Do you want my help arresting them?” Kari asked.
“No, Lady, no,” the marshal said. “You have done quite enough already. This will fall well within the capabilities of me and my men. I will arrest them all in the morning when they arrive for work. You may want to go speak with your Master Devin, and have him spread word that the so-called ‘church of Achirun’ is being dismantled. We should have done this ages ago, regardless of their use as lawyers.”
“Well, consider that your boss was carrying around a demon spirit for all these years,” Kari said, and she turned to look up at the painting of Kaelin Black above the fireplace. “You might find he’s a lot more agreeable and easy to work for in the future.”
“I have only ever known him the way you have,” Saracht said, turning his own gaze toward the painting. “Perhaps this city will become even more prosperous, and lose some of its reputation…all thanks to you. I want you to know that I am going to put in a recommendation to the Duke that he give you a commendation for valor in service. If he agrees, your minor title of nobility may become a major one instead.”
“Oh, no,” Kari said, and both of her companions laughed. “Well, thank you, Everett; I suppose we should leave you to make plans with your men for the morning. Good night.”
Marshal Saracht rose to his feet and saw the guests to the door. Kari and Eli headed back to the Temple District, and Kari told Eli to return to One Small Favor. “Don’t go to sleep before I get back there,” she told him. “There’s something I need to say to you.”
Eli looked at her curiously. “And you can’t just say it now?” he asked.
“It won’t have the same effect,” she said cryptically. “I’ll see you back at the inn.”
Eli broke off from her with a sigh and made his way to One Small Favor, and Kari continued onward to the church of Ambergaust. Master Vlad was happy to see her, and welcomed her to the church. He asked if he could speak to her privately. Kari agreed and asked only to check in on the Earl first. Kaelin Black was in a foul mood, but it was well within reason considering his broken legs and the pain he was in. Kari took his grouchiness in stride, and bid him rest while she went to speak with Master Vlad. She wanted to speak with the Earl, but figured she’d wait until the pain subsided a bit and she could talk to him privately.
Once Kari and Master Vlad were alone, the demonhunter offered the priest a handshake. “I’m afraid I haven’t gotten your actual name yet, Master Vlad,” she said as they shook.
“Vlad Belyakov,” he answered with a smile. “I wanted to speak to you about Lord Sakkrass. It is rare enough that anyone outside of the czarikk nations knows his name; to find that you are so intimately familiar with him is…astounding. How did you come to know so much about Lord Sakkrass?”
“I encountered his avatar on Tsalbrin after helping one of the czarikk tribes there,” Kari answered. Master Vlad was clearly eager to hear the tale, so Kari spent a little bit of time telling him about her father. The priest was amazed at her story, and while she filled in the details of what she knew about the czarikk god, she grew curious as to how much Vlad – a human – could tell her about him. When she finished her tale, she prompted him, “I’m just as surprised that you know anything about him. How do you know Lord Sakkrass?”
The priest gestured up toward Ambergaust’s holy symbol – a shield with a roaring lion’s head standard upon it – engraved into the stone wall high above the altar. “Lord Sakkrass is Lord Ambergaust’s brother,” he said. “Not by blood, naturally; the two deities met and became great friends many millennia ago, and have become as brothers. Just
as my lord is not native to this world, neither is Lord Sakkrass, though we find his people here in small numbers. Those of us who serve Lord Ambergaust know of Lord Sakkrass, but this is the first time I have seen his power firsthand, and met someone who is intimately familiar with him.”
“We’re still getting to know each other, really,” Kari said. It made her feel warm and comfortable to speak of her adoptive father with someone else who understood, even a little bit. “I have rather vivid dreams sometimes, and I think Sakkrass learns about me from my memories through dreams. And sometimes, he tells me a little about himself through dreams, too.”
“You share a great bond of love, I can hear that in your voice as plainly as I saw it in his loaning you his power,” the priest said with an appreciative smile. “This is good, and very important. Just as Gori Sensullu and Lord Ambergaust formed a bond of friendship that led to the merging of the two pantheons, so might you draw Sakkrass and his own pantheon in as well if you cultivate this friendship. With the battles we fight against the demons and their maniacal kings, any new allies are always a welcome addition. And if you should have any questions, I am always happy to be of help.”
“If I can be nosey for a minute, I’m curious how you ended up serving Ambergaust?” Kari asked. “I mean, I guess it makes sense since he’s human and so are you, but there are humans among our own pantheon.”
