Convergence

by Joe Jackson

  The archmage touched the rings in Sharyn’s ear. “I can put a little enchantment on these that should let me speak to you within a certain distance, or at least track you beyond that.”

  “Perfect. Get the others and move east as fast as you can. I’ll lead you to him, and fight to defend him to my dying breath if I have to.”

  “Thank you, Sharyn,” Sonja said, giving the woman a hug.

  “Be careful,” Kris said. “If you can’t avoid trouble, try to at least delay it until we can get to you.”

  “Will do.” She finished getting undressed and began her transformation. Soon, she was in the fully lupine form, and she dashed off into the forest in a way the others only wished they could.

  “You found yourself a hell of a woman, Sherman,” Kris said as they continued onward.

  The paladin laughed. “You have no idea, my friend.”

  Chapter X – Evasion

  Lord Stanley assumed power with Kari’s blessing. It set many of the other nobles on edge, but he was one of the few that Kari thought she could trust. He had been of help to her without question when she had to send her friends south under cover, and from her brief time at the former duke’s court, he seemed one of the least foppish. He was handsome, well-spoken, and obviously of refined tastes, but lacked the arrogance and entitled attitude that she found so common among her fellow nobles.

  The process of succession would be a long and tedious one, but having someone Kari could trust in power had to suffice for the time being. She had much bigger concerns, and was glad to have someone else taking care of the ones she wasn’t well-suited for. As soon as Lord Stanley was securely within the citadel, it had only been a matter of passing along orders through Tormaar to protect the acting duke at all costs to wrap up Kari’s role in the matter.

  Martial law had been enacted, but Kari sent out her hunters to quell any uneasiness on the part of the citizens. Red Eagle was handling that, their hunters assuring the city’s residents that martial law was only to resolve any subsequent issues in the wake of the duke’s arrest and the dismantling of the Blood Order. It would hopefully be a situation that came to an end within a few days, at the most.

  “As soon as we get the actual succession underway,” Kari answered. “I don’t want the city under martial law any more than anyone else does. Every hour the city’s under it, I have to keep my hunters on the streets instead of doing what we’re supposed to do. And frankly, I hate it just as much as all the other citizens.”

  Gil nodded, back in her human form now. Her presence had created quite a stir, but the fact that Kari had walked beside her seemed to change it from panic to extreme curiosity. Kari wasn’t expecting that, and clearly neither was Gil. The trouble now was keeping the girl out of the public eye to avoid being hounded by the over-curious or thrill-seekers of some kind. They had retreated back to Danilynn and Eli’s home, Kari’s office not an option with the state of the campus.

  “Any word from your friends on Mehr’Durillia yet?”

  Kari turned and stared at the werewolf. Gil looked so unassuming sitting in one of Eli’s reading chairs before the fireplace, her hands tucked shyly into her pants pockets. Anyone who looked at her would have to figure her for harmless, which only made her importance that much more appreciable. She wasn’t much older than nineteen by her own words, but the girl had ice in her veins. Little perturbed her, and despite her tender age and even more tender appearance, she was some kind of operative for the Royal Special Forces, and didn’t let all the interest in her being a werewolf affect her at all.

  “No,” Kari answered after the short silence. “We won’t hear anything back from them until they either get to friendly territory, or else come back home. But they’ve got Kris leading them, and I have complete confidence in him.”

  Gil smiled. “And not just as a leader, hmm?”

  Kari snorted and waved away the comment. “Nice try, Gil, but I brought you here to talk about yourself, not my love life. When are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything…”

  The werewolf sighed. “Better make us some tea, then. There’s a lot to tell. I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to tell you, but I think they trust you more than most because you’re the head of the Demonhunter Order.”

  The demonhunter regarded her companion curiously. There were certainly questions to be asked about that assertion. She took Gil’s advice, though, and moved to set a kettle to boil over the fire. She collected a couple of mugs, tea balls, and the chamomile from the pantry, and used the idle time to try to get her thoughts in order. She wasn’t sure she trusted that Gil was going to tell her everything, and she wanted to have all of her questions prepared ahead of time if that turned out to be the case.

  Gil seemed to be using the quiet time for the same purpose, but she still maintained that air of calm and control. She almost reminded Kari of a mallasti or elestram in a human form, and after her transformation on Mehr’Durillia, Kari found that thought even funnier. It was possible that there was some connection there, related to the wolf blood in Gil’s veins, and Kari wondered if the werewolves themselves were even cognizant of it.

  Soon enough, the whistle of the tea kettle told them both that the time for contemplation had come to an end. Kari poured the tea, then handed Gil her cup. Gil set the cup down beside her, waiting for it to cool slightly, and Kari got things started.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  Gil met Kari’s eyes and smiled, clearly understanding that she wasn’t looking for the obvious answer. “The short version is that I’m a young girl who got in a lot of trouble messing with the government,” Gil said. “The long version… you probably wouldn’t understand most of it. I’m from Streka, Kari. I grew up in one of the biggest cities in the Strekan Province, and it’s like a completely different world from the one you live in. When your brother-in-law gets back, I’m sure he’s going to tell you the same thing.”

  “Is Gil your real name?”

  “Yes: Gillian Erin MacKenzie. I was a pretty typical teenager, always seeing how far I could push the envelope before someone pushed back. I got into trouble with the government, as I said, and that’s how I ended up working with Dynas and his people. I know when you hear that we’re Royal Special Forces, you probably think that means we’re like you and your Order, just from a different place, but that’s not it. We were all criminals of some kind, but instead of being put in prison or killed, we were brought together because we each had skillsets the government could use.”

  “Like being a werewolf?”

  Gil nodded. “Exactly. I’m the only one working for our division, as far as I know, but if you could see some of the things Dynas can do, you’d understand his participation pretty easily. There are others, too, but most of them are working on other projects. This,” she said, gesturing about them, “was my mission: Destroy the Blood Order. Of course, despite being a werewolf, that’s not something I could do myself. So for the last couple of years, I’ve been doing mostly reconnaissance.”

  “What were you doing with Sharyn’s pack down by Barcon, then?”

  “Same thing, only with the Black Dragon Society. Except you ended up taking care of all that for us.”

  Kari took a long sip of tea to cover up her shock at hearing that. “So why did the royal government decide these guilds were worth looking into after all this time?”

  “They finally had people that could infiltrate them,” Gil explained. “Dynas’ gift would make your jaw drop, and he’s been a pretty big part of this all along, he just has a way of keeping out of sight. My demonstration for your Order ended up working out in more ways than we ever expected; the Blood Order really exposed itself after that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They started watching me, but my work was already done. I’d already sniffed out their headquarters, their escape routes, their gathering places, even most of their homes. Once they knew
I was a werewolf, they started paying attention to me to try to prevent that, only too late. But by focusing on me, they missed all the other people that were focusing on them.”

  Kari shook her head in amazement. “Did you know the duke was the head of the Blood Order? I still can’t believe it. How has he fooled people for so long?”

  “They were dug in deep, Kari. You’re going to find there’s fewer nobles than the last time you met them all, and other groups – like the city watch – are going to be missing members as well. They’ve been at this for decades, if not longer, and Duke Bosimar wasn’t the first to be involved. We suspect that it may have begun with his father, or even grandfather.”

  Kari’s breath caught. She remembered Earl Black’s tale of being attacked – and, without his knowledge at the time, possessed – by a demon while visiting Duke Bosimar’s father. Could that demon have been involved in the rise of the Blood Order even before the Black Dragon Society? Were all of these incidents and bloody guilds linked by a common demon – a demon that was still alive and out there somewhere?

  Ketava, Kari thought, but she didn’t get too lost in thought while she was on Gil’s time. “So why couldn’t you just tell me all of this at the start? My people could’ve helped you, unless you’re telling me my Order is going to be missing some hunters now…”

  Gil squared her jaw and frowned, but then she shrugged. “Much as it’s going to hurt to hear me say it, you couldn’t be trusted at the time. You went to a lot of trouble to find the moles in your Order, but you missed one: You.”

  Kari cocked her head. “Come again?”

  “Not in the standard sense,” the werewolf said with a casual gesture. “But you’ve been close to Eryn for several years, Kari. She wasn’t a member of the Blood Order; she was Tarek’s right hand. As much as you may have trusted her because of her relationship with your brother-in-law, she was always using you to some extent. I can’t speak to whether or not she genuinely likes you or even Aeligos, but regardless, she used the two of you as information sources, at the very least. Once Dynas and I realized how close the two of you were, we decided you couldn’t be trusted – not to help with the setup work, anyway.”

  Kari shook her head again. “She’s going to be executed, isn’t she?”

  “Nope.”

  The demonhunter whipped her gaze back to meet Gil’s.

  “She’s got a skillset the RSF wants, Kari. She’s going to be recruited, unless she turns their offer down for whatever reason. If she does that, then yes, she’ll be executed. As it is, she’ll have to stand trial for her crimes under the Blood Order, and that will be what they use to keep her in line if she decides to join us.”

  Kari tilted her head. “Wait a minute. That’s what this was all about, wasn’t it? Rooting out the Black Dragon Society and the Blood Order… the royal government had no reason to come and dismantle either. They just wanted BlackWing and Eryn.”

  Gil laughed. “Dynas told them you were sharper than they thought. You’re right and you’re wrong, Kari. RSF wanted both, but our orders were only to grab the two of them as new recruits. BlackWing… well, once you exposed him as a possessor demon, his candidacy went right out with the wash water.”

  “So, are you headed back to Streka, then?”

  “Just for a couple of weeks. Headed home to see my parents, then I’ll be back out this way. Why, do you need me for something?”

  “There’s a war coming, Gil. I need every capable warrior I can get. You may not be a fighter in the traditional sense, but I could use werewolves.”

  “I can see what the bosses have in the works for me next,” the girl said with a shrug. “I still have no intention of going to Mehr’Durillia, but you’ve got time to convince me. Was there anything else you needed to know?”

  There was so much Kari wanted to ask, but she’d gotten the most important answers she needed, and opened up many more things to think about and investigate. There would be time to get to other things, but not with the weight of what was before her. “Not at the moment. I think I’d better go get my kids. I need something normal to get my frayed nerves to calm down.”

  “I’ll let you get to that, then. I’d better head out now that it’s getting dark and see if Dynas needs my help rounding up any other stragglers.”

  “Were any of the others involved with all this? Sharyn or her pack?”

  “Nope, just me,” Gil said. “Although Sharyn being resurrected makes me think you ought to keep her very close to you. I may not be all that spiritual or understand how your gods operate, but there’s something special about the two of you. Don’t overlook the fact that she’s special just because you are.”

  Kari titled her head, thinking of the similar proverb she’d been told with regard to the beshathan saying epaxa chi’pri. “I won’t. Thanks, Gil. My head is still spinning over all of this, but I appreciate what you and Dynas have done. I just don’t know how I’m going to explain it to Aeligos when he gets back home.”

  The werewolf stood up. “Eryn made her choices, Kari, and Aeligos made his. Don’t let either of them put that weight on you. I’ll see you again in a few weeks.”

  Kari watched Gil leave the house and sighed. She was correct when it came to Eryn and Aeligos, of course, but sharing weight – and strength – was what friends did. And few things demonstrated that fact better than the group of people on Mehr’Durillia trying to rescue Erik.

  *****

  Erik tried to open his eyes but couldn’t. It wasn’t even the fatigue: His eyes were glued shut by something. He’d spent most of the prior days in the bliss of unconsciousness, sparing him the agony of his daily torture. That just meant that he didn’t know what had been damaged and to what extent, though. He hoped his eyes still worked, and weren’t sealed shut because they’d either been removed or just damaged beyond use.

  He recognized one other thing: He was lying down. He was no longer crucified, but that didn’t mean he was safe. It just meant one type of agony now replaced another. The more he tried to think about it, the more he could suddenly feel every wound on his body – and the number of them was considerable.

  Ultimately, his curiosity couldn’t outweigh the fatigue, and he slipped into the black depths of unconsciousness again.

  *****

  Erik woke again, but had no idea how much time had passed. His wounds all still ached, but the pain was duller now, the throb of flesh trying to heal rather than the sting of aggravated, open incisions. He felt a wet cloth brush against the raw flesh of his ribs, and without thinking, his eyes shot open.

  His eyes opened. And they worked. That was a blessing in itself.

  Erik tilted his head down and found an elestram kneeling beside him. The dark tan-furred jackal-woman was washing his wounds with a cloth, her clawed hands gently, even delicately tracing each of the numerous lines that criss-crossed his body. She met his eyes when she saw he was awake, and pushed him down to rest his head on the ground again. She said something in beshathan, he thought; it didn’t sound like infernal, but he had no idea what she said either way.

  He looked around at their surroundings. They seemed to be in a cave, and the light was failing outside. There was a little fire going nearby, and meat was roasting over it while the elestram woman tended to him. Where was he? And how many others might there be in this camp with the female?

  “Where are we?” Erik asked weakly.

  The elestram woman touched a finger to the end of his snout and shook her head. She either couldn’t understand him or simply didn’t want him to talk. He tried to look around for any others with them, but they seemed to be the only occupants in the cave at the moment. The elestram woman spoke again in beshathan, and Erik realized she was asking a question. He could only shake his head in response.

  She pointed to the cooking meat, then to his mouth, and repeated her question.

  “Yes, I’m starving,” he said. He realized his silly mistake a moment later and simply tried to nod, gesturing to his mou
th. “Who are you?”

  She glanced at him over her shoulder as she retrieved some meat from the spit, but made no reply. Erik cursed his ignorance of at least the infernal language, anything to be able to talk with this woman. He supposed the answers to his questions were irrelevant at this point. He wasn’t tied up or being tortured, and for the moment, that was enough. If it turned out he was still imprisoned in some manner, it changed little.

  The elestram fed him, which was a new experience for Erik. She wouldn’t let him feed himself, apparently insisting he relax and conserve energy. There was an element of tenderness to it, but the impassive expressions of the beshathan people made it less so. Still, this was as close as Erik had ever been to a beshathan that wasn’t dying, as the people of Anthraxis had largely ignored him while he was there.

  The thought of Anthraxis brought with it the realization that he’d seen the missing third Tilcimer there. That was an alarming development, one Erik had to get home and let his Order and family know about. If the Tilcimer was working with the demon kings in some fashion, it presented a whole range of problems, from simply informing the demon kings of any number of things about Citaria to actually helping them invade. Whatever the case, that creature needed to be killed before it spread misery and death like its predecessors, whether here or on Citaria.

  Erik chuckled. Kari would be proud of him for being concerned about the people here on Mehr’Durillia. It was something he knew was part of his duty, but it was easier to just regard them all as his enemies until situations – like the one he was currently in – showed otherwise.

  The elestram woman was surprised at his chuckle, but said nothing, merely titling her head as she held him under an unblinking stare. “Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be able to talk to you,” he said between bites, and glanced down the length of his body. “And for some clothes.”

  She seemed to smile, but continued to feed him wordlessly. Once he had eaten, she gestured for him to try sitting up fully, and helped him get at least halfway upright. The fatigue was bone-deep, and there was still the tug of the many wounds across his body, but it felt good to be sitting up. His arms and legs, particularly at the elbows and knees, were still screaming at him over the damage of his captivity, but he would heal. Sitting here with this elestram woman, wherever he was, eating and resting and simply taking a break from being tortured filled him with hope and resolve.