Demons of Divinity

by Luke R. Mitchell

  “Zar’Faenor used the body of Carlisle’s old teacher. I didn’t think the detail was necessary back when I…” I dropped my eyes to the deck. “It just didn’t seem important at the time of my report.”

  Glenbark said nothing.

  Elise broke the silence. “If we’re sure there were twelve to start, there could still be at least seven Seekers out there, unaccounted for. We already know the raknoth probably have Smirks, if he’s still alive.”

  “And that Al’Kundesha promised power and freedom to those who joined him,” I added.

  “Right,” Elise said. “So, worst case scenario, it’s feasible we could eventually be looking at five of those things if the rest of the raknoth decide to copy Frosty.”

  “That might explain why we haven’t seen much of the raknoth themselves lately,” Franco said, stroking his mustache. “Therese and I were talking yesterday about how the raknoth might alter their hosts once they’ve taken them. She thinks it might take months or even years for them to make their vessels as strong as what we’ve seen. Perhaps they prefer to stay hidden will they’re… transitioning.”

  “How many of the raknoth were actually confirmed at the attack on Oasis?” I asked.

  “Three by our count,” Glenbark said. “Not that we can really be sure. But it still leaves the possibility that this raknoth has been adopting its new host, Frosty, ever since the White Tower. Perhaps it was the raknoth she absconded with. That would help explain why we haven’t seen a trace of his former holiness.”

  “Are you positive she was still human at the White Tower?” Franco asked.

  “Pretty sure,” I said.

  Her mind certainly hadn’t felt alien. Of course, I wasn’t sure my telepathic impression was infallible there, but the fact that Frosty’s abilities had grown multiple times stronger since then seemed to support the idea that something had radically changed.

  “So what we saw today was probably what a raknoth can make of a Seeker in about three cycles,” Elise said.

  “Which paints a scary picture of what we could be looking at if others make the transition,” Franco added.

  “And also kinda makes it sound like Frosty might keep getting stronger,” I said.

  Glenbark looked around at us. “Much as I appreciate the analysis, I was quite hoping it might conclude with a handy proposition as to how we counter such a threat moving forward.”

  “Well, Frosty ran today when those two Seekers flew in, right?” Johnny asked.

  “I’m not sure she really needed to,” I said, trading a look with Elise.

  “You don’t think she was afraid?” Glenbark asked.

  I shrugged, unsure how to answer. I hadn’t exactly been on fresh legs by the end of the fight, nor had Siren. If Frosty had decided to fight on, I wasn’t sure we would have stopped her. Alpha only knew how much she’d had left before she reached her limits.

  “I think she was testing her abilities against mine,” I finally said, looking down at my hands. “And I think she passed.”

  Silence.

  “Hey, come on, big guy,” Johnny finally said. “Remember when you caught an entire transport with your mind?”

  “With leverages, you mean?”

  Johnny grimaced at his own words.

  “Imagine what she’ll be able to do if Therese is right,” I continued. “If she grows stronger…”

  “If she does,” Glenbark said, “then we’ll find a way to deal with it. You saved lives today, Haldin. Don’t let hypothetical developments undermine that.”

  It was kind of hard to take her words to heart when I could see the loss in the hollowness of her eyes and the set of her shoulders. Because no matter how many we kept alive today, we both knew there’d been plenty more we’d failed. If the Legion actually survived this war, I knew they might one day teach this engagement as a victory in the classrooms—a stirring example of a successfully routed ambush.

  But it was hard to see victory when the blood of the fallen was still fresh on your hands. Or on your dress tunic, in Glenbark’s case.

  I thought about Mara, and the stomach-turning scream that’d ripped from her throat when Frosty had stomped her down after taking Mara’s knife to the knee. Thinking of the way she’d looked, her left leg and hip pulverized, her face so bloodless, and the way Edwards and Dillard had hovered over her…

  Franco’s voice snapped me from the grim recollection. “Do we have any confirmation that the three raknoth who attacked Oasis are still there?”

  “No,” Glenbark said. “They’ve kept most of their forces underground since we attempted bombing runs. We’ve done our best to contain Oasis from a distance, but I’m not putting it past question that a raknoth could have escaped. They could be hiding back among civilization, for all we know.”

  “Raknoth are pretty damn good at blending in,” I agreed.

  Franco grimaced. “So we have no idea where they’re at or if they might currently be undergoing similar upgrades.”

  No one needed to point out that it was probably safest to assume the worst. I was pretty sure we were all thinking it. I cringed inwardly at the thought of a supercharged Alton Parker, or whatever name the raknoth might take if he switched to a gifted host. All that insidious cunning, armed with the kind of power Frosty wielded…

  “We need those cloaks,” Glenbark said, looking between me and Elise. “Now more than ever.”

  “We’re getting closer,” I said, hoping I sounded more convinced than I felt. To Elise’s credit, she managed to nod her agreement without looking like she was wondering what the scud I was talking about. Maybe she actually believed it.

  “But I have to point out,” I added, “even cloaked legionnaires won’t be safe from all her abilities. Something like what she did with those slugs today would still—”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Glenbark looked around at all of us in turn. “We stick to what we can actually control. We find the breeding facilities and cut off their army. We cloak our legions and retake Oasis. I don’t care how strong they are, even five of those things couldn’t survive against our cloaked legions once their hybrid reinforcements are cut off. We stay the course. Agreed?”

  “Agreed, sir,” Johnny said with one of his rare serious looks.

  “Agreed,” Franco echoed, followed by Elise.

  They all turned to me, but my head was too busy whirling with doubts to answer immediately. What if Therese and Franco couldn’t track down the facilities, and—much more realistically—what if I couldn’t come through with the cloaks? It wasn’t like I had any bright new ideas, short of going back to Humility and ripping the city apart for Burton Kovaks and Pasty’s Emmútari archives. Which, I realized, would be considerably more problematic now that I had the official enemy of Enochia sign hanging around my neck in addition to my existing house arrest.

  And scud, what if none of that even mattered? What if five supercharged raknoth blasted into Haven tonight with an army of mature hybrids at their backs? What would we do then?

  The thought chilled my insides.

  But they were waiting for my answer. Counting on me.

  “Agreed,” I said quietly.

  “Good. Then I have an assignment for the two of you,” Glenbark said, looking between me and Elise again. “The Seekers. They might know something that could help you, yes?”

  “I doubt it,” I said before I even had time to think.

  I didn’t need to look at Elise to know she didn’t like where this was going either.

  “But there is a chance,” Glenbark said. “And furthermore, I doubt they’re going to be forward with me about what they were doing following us, and whether it’s by the will of the High Cleric or otherwise.”

  I frowned. “You think they’re acting on their own?”

  “I think I’d like to know what they’re doing here and if they’re capable of helping our situation. I also think they’re considerably more likely to open up to a fellow practitioner than to the High General of the Legio
n.”

  I traded an uncertain look with Elise. “You do realize their entire function is to kill people like us, right?”

  Glenbark looked pointedly between me and Elise. “All the more reason to find out what they’re doing here, then, don’t you think?”

  29

  Evens & Odds

  By the way Dark Eyes and The Giantess scowled at the back of her head from the transport, I was guessing it hadn’t been a group decision when Siren came straight up to me on the Haven landing pad and asked if we could all go somewhere to talk. At least that saved me the awkwardness of trying to organically get the Seekers alone. Not that it wasn’t obvious enough that we weren’t alone at all when half of Hound Company fell in behind us, following at a respectful distance. Less obvious were the dozen or so snipers Glenbark probably already had watching us.

  But Dark Eyes and The Giantess said nothing of it, simply looking displeased with Siren but also keen on not letting her out of their sight for some reason. No one protested when Johnny and Elise stuck by my side either. Three and three just seemed fair.

  In a strange way, it almost felt like we were the cool kids, sneaking off to do as we pleased. Dark Eyes and The Giantess might’ve been in their mid-twenties, and Siren couldn’t have been more than a couple years older than me.

  For a second, it was almost like they weren’t professional Shaper killers. But they were. And I kept that fact firmly in mind as Johnny guided us toward a nearby rec zone as Glenbark had instructed.

  I got the impression they were equally cautious of us. Aside from a few glib remarks from Siren about finally seeing Haven in the daylight and one tiny reminder of how Johnny had succumbed to her wily charms the last time she’d visited, barely a word was spoken in the five minutes it took us to reach the rec zone and find a quiet corner in the garden. It wasn’t exactly a beautiful space, but it was clean, and the modest collection of sun-kissed flowers and shrubberies at least attempted to alleviate the tension as we sat about, waiting for someone to start.

  “Chatty bunch today, aren’t we?” Siren said, looking around at all of us.

  Elise joined the other Seekers in scowling at her. I was a little surprised Johnny didn’t fire something back, but he seemed a little hesitant to engage Siren, whether because of his slip up last time or because he assumed I had a plan.

  I didn’t.

  “You’re the one who asked to talk,” I said. “What did you wanna talk about?”

  Siren rolled her eyes. “Oh please. We’re sitting here with the High General’s servitor and a full squad hiding in the bushes, for the love of Alpha. Don’t act like she didn’t ask you to crack the scary Seeker shell and harvest our juicy little secrets.”

  “Maybe she didn’t have to ask,” Elise said. “Maybe some shells, I crack for free.”

  It was slight, but I swear Dark Eyes grinned a little at that.

  “Nice cover-up, by the way,” Elise added to Siren.

  It was only when she said it that I noticed the faint discoloration in skin tone where Siren had applied pigment to her right temple to cover up the bruise Elise had given her back in the medica.

  Siren just raised her delicate eyebrows, feigning innocent surprise. “It seems to me I’ve done something to upset you, sweetling.”

  “Easy,” I telepathically crooned Elise’s way, thinking calming thoughts as I felt her tense beside me. “She’s testing you.”

  “Yeah,” Johnny said, his gaze near Siren but not quite on her, “I hear that’s what those non-lizard folk do when you try to murder their loved ones. Getting all upset and such. How quaint, right?”

  Siren all but ignored him, watching Elise like a predatory feline. When Elise failed to explode, Siren let out a sigh and lounged languorously back in the sun, as if having lost interest.

  “Look at you, knowing women,” Elise sent.

  I stifled a smile. “Women, no. But I might know a thing or two about serpents.”

  Siren opened an eye to peer at us. “So are we going to be honest with one another here, or are you two just going to keep talking behind your guests’ backs?”

  That surprised both of us, seeing as we’d set our cloaks close enough to cut us off from the Seekers.

  “You pick up on a lot of things, being around our type half your life,” Siren said. “We don’t need to feel the mind whispers to recognize the look.”

  “Fine,” I said. “We can do honest. Let’s start with what you want and why your friends here were following our convoy.”

  “Our convoy that just so happened to get ambushed,” Johnny added.

  “Careful, servitor,” Siren said, “or you might upset Eight’s pristine moral sensibilities.”

  The Giantess, who’d frowned at Johnny’s words, shot a dark look at Siren.

  “We didn’t lie to your officers,” Dark Eyes spoke up in his deep voice. “We came to confirm Six made it safely to Haven. If we’d known there was going to be trouble, we would’ve been closer behind.”

  “Hmm,” Elise said. “So you weren’t planning to, say, sweep in and carry away your friend Six here when we were all too tied up or dead to notice?”

  Anger flickered across Dark Eyes’ face, so convincing that I almost missed the way the blond titan of a woman beside him—the one Siren seemed to refer to as Eight—visibly swallowed, shifting uncomfortably. Maybe Siren hadn’t been kidding about those moral sensibilities.

  “You really think I would’ve stuck around to fight if that’d been the plan?” Siren asked.

  “Funny,” Elise said, fixing Siren with her most piercing stare, “I didn’t seem to see you doing much fighting. Not until the very end.”

  Siren’s lazy smile returned. “You mean when I juiced up your man, sweetling?”

  “You think Glenbark would be mad if I killed her?”

  I just rested my hand on Elise’s thigh and squeezed, noting Dark Eyes’ exasperation as he massaged his temples.

  “Enough with the kid games, Six,” he said. “You wanted to talk, talk. Eight and I don’t need this crap.”

  Beside him, Eight nodded her dignified agreement. Something passed between the three of them, and I was tempted to dial my cloak out and try to listen in.

  “Now who’s being rude?” Johnny muttered.

  We all looked at him in surprise.

  “What?” He spread his hands. “I have eyes, people.”

  “My friends and I,” Siren said, “are merely having a bit of a disagreement as to how significantly the red-eyed reemergence of our old colleague, Lady Bitch Face”—she smiled at me—“or Frosty for short, is going to grop up our plans.”

  “Those plans being?” Elise asked.

  It was Siren’s turn to shoot a dark look at her friends. “Oh, I’d tell you, but then Four here might try to set me on fire.”

  “Four, Six, and Eight, huh?” Johnny said. “What, do you guys eat all the odd numbers or something?”

  Siren showed him a serpentine smile. “Would that it were us doing the eating.” She looked at me. “That’s kind of why we wanted to talk.”

  “You’re afraid the raknoth are on the hunt for more Seeker hosts?” I ventured, looking between Siren and Four.

  “They’re afraid the raknoth will hunt them down after they’ve fled the Sanctum’s protection,” Elise corrected.

  As soon as she said it, everything clicked into place, from the circumstances of their arrival to every little look and twitch I hadn’t even realized I’d noticed. Elise had seen it all and pieced it together with an intuition that would’ve made Franco proud.

  What little doubt remained was quickly swept away by the look in Eight’s eyes. She looked caught. And so did Four.

  Elise was right.

  The Sanctum hadn’t sent the Seekers here. They were on the run—or getting ready to be, at least. But if they were worried about the raknoth finding them…

  “We’re done being their killers,” Four practically snarled, yanking me back to the moment. “Done with
all of it.” He traded a look with Eight and regained some composure before turning back to us. “We just need to make sure our people will be safe.”

  Siren patted his leg and smiled at us. “He’s such a good Seeker Core Dad, isn’t he?”

  Four ignored her. “We need to know what you know about what that thing did to One so we can make sure it never happens again.” He glanced wearily between me and Elise. “We’d also like to learn how to replicate the devices that hide your minds from detection.”

  We sat silently, waiting to see if he’d go on.

  “Is there an in return clause you’re forgetting about somewhere in there?” Johnny finally said, “Or would you prefer they each throw in two kidneys while they’re at it?”

  Four eyed him before turning his wary gaze on me. “Is there something you’d wish in return?”

  There sure as scud was. Namely, the answers to the cloaking rune problem. But the way Four had just referred to their pendants—like he didn’t even quite know what it was he was asking—pretty much settled it in my mind.

  These Seekers had no idea about the cloaking runes, much less how to help make them. So I decided to try another route.

  “Do you know anything about the Emmútari?”

  The three Seekers exchanged confused looks. A clear no on that one, then.

  “How about Expression?”

  “Like, of an opinion?” Siren asked.

  Alpha be damned, what did they teach these people?

  In their defense, they might well know the art of Expression by a different name, but I wasn’t sure how to probe at the topic in a useful way without revealing what I was indirectly searching for. For multiple reasons, it seemed like a bad move to let it slip that I didn’t even know how to make the cloaking pendants they were after. Thankfully, Elise was ready with her own questions.

  “How about something easier?” she said. “Can you at least tell us how many Seekers you can account for, and how many might have gone missing or joined the raknoth? For some reason, the Sanctum seems a bit tightfisted with those details.”