by Joe Jackson
The house was a total loss; she could see that even through the tears and the pall of smoke that still erupted from the newly-extinguished structure. But the dragon had saved the tree, if indirectly, and Kari had to be satisfied with that. She worked to get her emotions under control, asking Zalkar to flood her with his power so she could get her feet solidly back beneath her. She wiped her face free of the tears, kissed the tree, and then turned back toward the city.
“Uh, was that a dragon?” Aeligos asked.
“It was, but who was that?” Eli replied.
“I don’t know, but they’re a friend,” Kari answered. “Come on, you said everyone was at the orphanage?”
“Your kids are,” Eli returned with a nod, abandoning his bucket of water. “Let’s go there first, and then Aeligos and I will get back to helping in the hunt.”
“What brought you back here?”
“Se’sasha is missing, thought we’d check for her here, like maybe she was looking for you. Did Erik come back with you?”
“What?”
“Did Erik come home with you?” Aeligos clarified. “Didn’t you stop in Anthraxis before you came home?”
“Damnit,” Kari muttered. “No, I didn’t. But if he’s in Anthraxis, at least he’s hopefully safe, even if he’s not here to help us. Let’s move.”
They made their way hastily back into the city. The dragon was still taking attacks from the ground in places, but the fires were slowly being cleared. Kari saw a company of militiamen marching into the city in formation as she and her companions arrived. Beshathans were tough, no doubt, but they were just people with an affinity for the arcane. With an entire city’s worth of soldiers and hunters closing in on them, they wouldn’t last much longer.
Speeding toward the temple district, Kari and the men came to the orphanage to find it completely unscathed. The reason why was immediately apparent: Kyrie Kyleah, high priestess of Kaelariel, was standing on the front walk as if daring anyone to attack. Beside her were the other two priestesses: Danilynn Stahlorr of Garra Ktarra and Se’sasha Solaristis of Sakkrass-Ashakku. Three powerful priestesses and an anti-“demon” ward around the house seemed to be more than enough protection.
“Kari!” Kyrie gasped when she saw the demonhunter approaching. She ran forward and wrapped Kari in a hug. “Gods, oh gods, Kari, I’m so sorry. We weren’t in time to defend the house.”
“There you are, girl,” Eli said, approaching Se’sasha. “We thought we’d lost you.”
The syrinthian priestess bowed her head. “Forgive me. I went to my people on Lady Vanador’s property, to tell them to seek shelter and take the other workers with them. They are likely cold and frightened out in the northern vineyards and hills, but they should be safe for the time being.”
“Little Gray and Uldriana are upstairs with Damansha, and if anything manages to get past us, it won’t get past that mama bear,” Kyrie said. “Are you all right, Kari? You seem to be in a great deal of pain.”
“Long story,” she said, waving off the question. “I’m just…having a hard time putting all this together in my mind. I just got back from Mehr’Durillia less than an hour ago.”
“Out of the frying pan…,” Eli mused, but nobody finished or smiled at the joke.
“My children are safe?” Kari asked rhetorically, and the five others before her nodded. “Then I have work to do.”
“And you have fun with that,” came an all-too-familiar voice from behind her, and Kari spun around.
“Wait,” Kyrie said, grabbing Kari by the shoulder. “He can’t cross the wards. Let’s all get ready and take him together.”
“Oh, can’t I?” Taesenus asked. It was one of those situations where one would expect a smirk or at least a cocky grin, but there was no expression of pleasure on his face. “Who do you think burned your home to the ground, then?”
“You are a dead man,” Kari said, taking a threatening step forward.
“Yes, you’re very brave when you have a gang of friends at your back.”
“I needed no gang of friends to take your arm off the first time. What makes you think you’ll do any better this time around?” Kari spat.
“Because you have so much more to lose now,” he said, pacing to the side. “You can waste your time trying to kill me now, or you can go save your city…and your brother-in-law. Hmmm, which demon king did I sell him to when he made the mistake of leaving the safety of Anthraxis? You’re resourceful. I’m sure you can figure it out. But the longer you waste time with me, the less likely it is to matter.”
“Erik!” Kyrie cried, and she stepped forward and called forth her divine power. A beam of fire from the moon split through the cloud cover, striking the Demon Prince like a meteor. The beam passed through Taesenus, and Kyrie muttered an uncharacteristic swear under her breath. “He’s not really here. Ignore him.”
“You and I are going to have a reckoning,” Kari said, pointing a scimitar at the image.
“Oh yes, we are,” he agreed. “When you are alone, Karian. Not where you are strong or have the advantage of friends. Watch your back.”
“No, Taesenus,” Kari said, and he cocked his head. She pulled the goggles back down over her eyes and went invisible. “You watch yours.”
He grimaced. The image wavered, then disappeared. Kari faded into sight again, and her family and friends all beheld her in amazement. “Gift, from a friend,” she said, then took the goggles off and handed them to Aeligos. “Here, these will probably be more useful to you.”
The rogue stared at them curiously, but then slipped them on. “Holy shit!”
“Aeligos!” Kyrie said, slapping the end of his snout.
“Sorry. This is just…wow.”
Eli leaned over and whispered, “Hey, she did swear first.”
“You stay out of this,” Kyrie snapped at the half-corlyps.
“Think about being invisible, and you…will be,” Kari said as the rogue faded away. “Come, we’ve got work to do. Mom, can you, Danilynn, and Se’sasha protect this place even if Taesenus comes?”
“If he shows his face, I will call my god to deal with him directly,” Kyrie answered.
Kari half-smiled at that, but the amusement didn’t last. She set off into the city with Eli and, she presumed, the invisible Aeligos with her. They had an unknown number of beshathans to hunt down, a dragon to thank, and a lot of dead people to account for. And that was to say nothing of redoubling their efforts on tracking down Taesenus and finding out who was behind the summoning of these beshathan strike teams to Citaria.
Despite the darkness, more and more people were coming out to see to relief efforts now. Kari implored them all to be wary and seek shelter at the first sign of trouble, and she gathered an entourage of fellow hunters and some solitary city watch as she strode along. The dragon passed overhead a couple more times, but the orange glow faded from the clouds, and Kari was pretty sure the flaming threat had passed. Still, the great, majestic, winged reptile circled the city like a bird of prey homing in on its quarry.
They found Corbanis before long, the Tesconis patriarch’s six-foot-eight form hard to miss even in the dim streets. He had a squad of hunters with him, and they were checking for signs of life among a similar squad of beshathans that lay around them. When they noticed Kari and her followers coming, they straightened out and saluted her.
Kari returned the salute absently, but gestured toward the bodies. “Any survivors?”
“Not as of yet, ma’am,” Corbanis answered formally, despite their relationship. “These do not seem all that intent on being captured.”
“They’re fighting to the death?”
“Or killing themselves if it seems like they’re going to be caught,” he confirmed. “It would seem whoever sent them made it clear they were not to reveal their master.”
“Well, tough shit, because we’re going to find out who it was if I have to resurrect one of them myself,” Kari said, drawing raised eyebrows from all those around
her. She didn’t have the time or inclination to excuse her foul language. She was hurt, angry, scared, and irritated beyond measure, and she wasn’t mindful of letting that be known. “Aeligos, you still with us?”
“You bet,” he said, and his voice coming from nowhere sent a few of the less-hardened watchmen and hunters scrambling away.
“I need you to sap one of them if we can find another squad that hasn’t been killed yet. Preferably an elestram; mallasti have harder heads, I think. Don’t ask me to explain right now, just trust me.” She turned to the other hunters and watchmen. “Subdue as many as you can, but don’t risk your life trying to capture them. If they try to kill you, you return the favor and make good on it. I have enough condolences to pass around after this is all said and done. Don’t add yourself to my list.”
“I’ll be about fifty paces out in front of you, but you lead the way,” Aeligos said.
Kari nodded and gestured for the others to follow, and they paraded through the streets: two senior demonhunters, nearly a dozen less-experienced but well-trained other hunters, eleven watchmen, Aeligos, Eli, and a handful of war veterans who still had their armor and weapons from the Great War. It was a sizeable bunch, and a capable unit. Kari almost pitied the beshathans they came upon if they should manage to find some still alive.
Almost.
A renewed fire acted like a beacon for them, and they all tried to keep pace with Kari. She was burning Zalkar’s power at this point, her own body spent after all the grief and shock she had been put through in barely an hour. She came upon another quartet of beshathans, and the Mehr’Durillians took up defensive positions while a spellcaster took the center of the street, his clawed hands splayed in preparation to begin raining death on Kari’s soldiers.
His head snapped to the side as a dull thunk sounded, and the others turned to watch the elestram wizard fall ungracefully face-first into the street. By the time they got their wits back on the coming trouble, Kari had impaled one of them on both of her blades and threw him aside like a sack of trash. The others with her, mindful of her orders, overwhelmed and began to simply beat the Mehr’Durillians into submission. Corbanis went for the sapped elestram, and he produced a pair of the magic-cancelling shackles.
“Just break their fingers if we don’t have any more shackles,” Kari said, and snaps and cracks preceded screams of pain from the subdued beshathans. “Get them up. You four and you two,” Kari continued, pointing at a group of mixed hunters and watchmen. “Get them to the campus and lock them in the prison. The rest of you, stay with me.”
They continued through the streets, but stopped short at a rush of wind that deposited Sonja a short distance before them. “There you are,” Sonja said, then her eyes went wide. “Kari! You’re home!”
The demonhunter accepted a hug from her sister-in-law, who backed away and looked at the tears on her arm curiously. Kari’s emotions were threatening to get the better of her, but to their credit, none of the men or women with her said anything. “Report?” she asked Sonja.
Her sister-in-law seemed shocked to be addressed so stiffly, but she shook her head. “The ones you captured and sent to the campus are the only ones left alive,” she said, falling into step with Kari as she turned back toward the campus. “Master Maelstrom and I also used our arcane seals to try to locate Taesenus, but he’s not in the city, if he ever was at all. Seems he took a liking to the illusions I used last time we encountered him.”
“He’s going to wish his life was an illusion when I find him,” Kari growled. She sighed at herself, though, and turned to Corbanis. “Set up squads and start sweeping the city street by street. If anyone needs immediate help, either do what you can healing-wise, or get them to one of the temples for treatment. I need to know what parts of the city are most heavily damaged, which have the highest casualties, and if anyone can get close enough to that dragon, I want to know its name and whether it’s comfortable coming to speak with me on the campus.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Corbanis answered with a salute, and he turned and began issuing orders to those hunters with him.
Kari turned to the watchmen. “Thank you for your help. Please return to your squads or to the watch commander, and have them let the duke know the situation is under control for the time being.”
She turned last to the war veterans that had joined the cause. “You lot are with me. I think we have some beer back on the campus, assuming they didn’t destroy the larder.”
There were some scattered chuckles, but most of them didn’t miss the sadness or the hurt in Kari’s eyes, and they nodded solemnly. They followed her back toward the campus. Aeligos became visible again, shocking Sonja, and they also walked with Kari. No one asked her any questions or offered any insights or information without being asked. Kari was frazzled, and apparently, everyone could see that.
They reached the campus without incident, and Kari was welcomed back by every hunter on the grounds. Masters Arinotte and Perez approached, and she could see from the dirt, sweat, and soot on them that the two military priests hadn’t sat in the temple waiting for reports. They had gone straight out into trouble, just like Kari, their military training coming back to the fore when serious danger loomed. Kari saluted them, but she felt like her arm weighed half a ton, and while she was sure it showed on her face, she couldn’t muster up the concern to care.
“Masters,” she greeted them quietly. “Where is Lord Allerius?”
The two humans exchanged a glance. Master Perez headed back toward the temple, but Master Arinotte gestured for Kari to follow. He made his way to the rows of covered bodies in the campus’ central square, and gestured toward a sheet stained with silver blood. He started to speak but thought better of it, merely patting Kari’s shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze before he, too, headed back to the temple. They would be busy enough accounting for the dead in the morning.
Kari knelt beside the body of her friend and laid her hand on his chest through the sheet, paying no mind to the blood that stained it. Albrecht Allerius was her best friend among the Order, even more so than either of her brothers-in-law or father-in-law. He had started showing Kari the ropes of running the Order from the moment he found out she was pregnant and going on administrative duty. She was a better hunter than him; no one had ever bothered trying to deny that, not even Albrecht himself. And yet, he had taught her so much about leadership, how to run the Order, and even a bit about being a parent.
He left behind a wife and three children, though thankfully his kids were a little older – mostly late teens, if Kari’s guess was correct. That wouldn’t make it any easier, but it meant the children could help bear the burdens of their mother. They would receive a pension that would help them financially, but the words it’s the least we can do stuck in Kari’s mind. It really was the least anyone could do.
Her mind flashed back to her earlier thoughts, and she had to put considerable effort into not breaking down into a crying mess. If I had never slept with Morduri, he’d still be alive, she thought. It was unbelievable that one night of irresponsibility had cost her best friend and so many others their lives.
“Stop that,” Sonja said through a shuddering breath. Kari turned and looked over her shoulder. “That is not true, and you know it, Kari. Don’t take any more of this onto yourself than you already have to.”
Aeligos looked back and forth between them, then his brows knitted. “Kari, none of this was your fault, and you being here wouldn’t have stopped any of it. The initial assault hit here; if anything, you may have been caught off guard along with everyone here. We’re talking a few dozen Mehr’Durillians and possibly even Taesenus…Kari, you’re lucky to be alive. I know that doesn’t mitigate how you feel, but this wasn’t your fault, and you shouldn’t feel guilty for still being alive.”
Kari sighed. They were right, but now she wondered how much of her thoughts Sonja overhead. Her sister-in-law’s face was devoid of judgment, but Kari couldn’t help but wonder how much of t
hat sadness was knowing she had slept with a “demon king.” Sonja turned and looked away for a moment, and Kari shook her head. Aeligos looked back and forth between them again, but then offered Kari a hand to stand up.
“I don’t think I can get up without wetting my pants,” Kari said. Having finally sat down and let the adrenaline and divine power leave her body, she felt limp and weak, and that sharp pain in her belly was making its presence known.
“I’ll help you up, ma’am,” offered one of the larger, burlier veterans who still remained near her in a respectful, kneeling semi-circle around Lord Allerius.
“No, it’s okay,” Kari said. “I think I’m just going to pass out here.”
And then she did exactly that.
*****
It was difficult to figure out where she was at first, but it came to her after a couple of groggy minutes. It was her mother-in-law’s old house, and she had been bundled up on the floor of what used to be Little Gray’s room. There were several little beds in the room, but they were all pushed to the side, and none of the children were sleeping in them presently. Kari was alone, wrapped up in blankets on the floor, and she wondered hazily why she wasn’t on any of the beds, or at least a couple of them pushed together.
She tried to push up to a sitting position, but her arms wouldn’t hold her up and she hit the blankets with a muffled thud. The sound of a couple of people coming up the stairs preceded Danilynn and Kyrie rushing into the room. They both knelt beside Kari, and Danilynn took her hand while Kyrie leaned down and gave her a hug. Kari still felt awful, but finally being able to lie down for a stretch coupled with the warmth of the two women’s presence helped.
“How long was I out?” Kari asked, putting her hand on her forehead.
“Just a couple of hours,” Danilynn answered.