The Godswar Saga (Omnibus)

by Jennifer Vale

  “Looking for you,” Karl Horsch said, shaking the admiral’s hand. “I heard you were in town and wanted to try and catch you.”

  Tenel smiled at his old friend. “Coincidence?”

  “Actually, yes,” Karl said before ordering a drink of his own. “I’m also hoping it’s an opportunity. Join me outside for a minute, would you?”

  Tenel nodded and followed, tossing a few coins on the bar as he did so. “What’s it been, two years?”

  “Almost,” Karl said, peering around the nearby streets and alleys. The joy in his eyes dulled the moment they were out of sight, and his expression darkened with concern. “I’m glad you’re all right, Onar. When I heard that the ‘Coats had taken you away, I feared the worst.”

  “I wondered when the rumors would start,” Tenel murmured, leaning against the tavern’s outside wall. “What’s this about, Karl?”

  “You, mostly. What the hell did they do to you?”

  “Nothing bad,” Tenel assured him. “I won’t be able to tell you much more than that.”

  Karl grunted. At a glance, the two men could have almost been brothers. Their pale skin, green eyes, and dark hair were shared by most native Crell, but they were also the same age and nearly the same height. They had known each other since they were both simple farm boys. Karl had joined the army when he had turned nineteen, despite Tenel trying to convince him otherwise. His friend had been a strong patriot his entire life, while it had taken the death of a son to push Tenel into service. Now he couldn’t imagine his life any other way.

  “Well, I knew you hadn’t done anything wrong,” Karl whispered, “but that doesn’t always mean you’re safe from the bloody ‘Coats.”

  “The Zarul recruited me. It’s been a fast couple of weeks on the inside, I’ll tell you that. I wasn’t sure what to expect.” Tenel sighed. “I really have no idea how they covered my absence; I was just told it would be taken care of.”

  “Command has had bigger concerns than the loss of one admiral,” Karl said gravely. “When I heard you were here, I was hoping you were on the inside. I need some answers.”

  “You know I can’t really say much. Not if I don’t want them to drag me away to a much darker place.”

  “Maybe not, but anything is better than nothing. Even with your head in the sand, I assume you’ve heard about the mass reassignments across the Imperium.”

  Tenel nodded. So apparently High Command did know about the bizarre shuffling of soldiers from one regiment to another. “I have, yes. But much of the border buildup was going on before I was transferred.”

  “I’m not talking about the buildup,” Karl said pointedly. “I’m talking about the fifty thousand other troops who’ve vanished.”

  Tenel frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  His old friend eyed him warily. “You may be a Coat, Onar, but don’t lie to me. If you can’t talk about it, just say so.”

  “I’m not lying,” Tenel insisted. “What are you talking about?”

  Karl bit his lip and turned away. “The High Sovereign has been taking soldiers out of regiments all over the Imperium for months for some undisclosed operation. Once news about the border buildup hit, everyone assumed that’s where they were going—except there are tens of thousands unaccounted for.”

  A knot twisted in Tenel’s stomach. He had just recently learned about the reassignments, of course, but he had no idea that so many soldiers were flat-out missing. “The brass has no idea where they could be?”

  “As far as I can tell, High Command has been completely taken out of the loop,” Karl said. “I’m only a Captain, but the higher-ups are in an uproar over it. Thelonius seems to be taking direct control over everything.”

  “The military does fall under his jurisdiction,” Tenel pointed out. “Everything does, if he wants it to.”

  “Sure, but it’s stupid,” Karl replied bluntly. “He can’t cut out his military advisors like that and not expect there to be consequences.”

  Tenel rubbed at his chin. As much as he didn’t want to leak anything important, this man was his oldest friend. He just needed to be careful. “What type of troops are we talking about?”

  “Everything from light infantry to heavy cavalry.”

  “But what about Imperators?”

  “Some, but they’re all Thelonius’s people already.” Karl frowned. “Does that mean something to you?”

  “I’m not sure. I noticed the same thing about all the invasion forces—every Imperator is a Bound under the High Sovereign.”

  Karl’s brow furrowed in thought. “The other Sovereigns aren’t happy about this either. I’m sure you’ve kept up on Lyebel—Verrator is furious about the Zarul presence there. He’s been insisting Command to take direct action against the rebels for months, but Thelonius won’t allow it. Then there was this fiasco a week ago that the locals are screaming about.”

  “I’m well aware of the insurrection,” Tenel said, “but unfortunately I can’t talk about it.”

  Karl shot him an annoyed look. “That’s not very helpful.”

  Tenel shrugged. “Look, I don’t know what all this is about, but I do know we’re going to invade—and soon.”

  “That’s hardly a secret,” Karl muttered. “Unless you know some specifics you’d like to share with me.”

  “I don’t, but I couldn’t tell you if I did.” Tenel sighed and grabbed the other man’s arm. “Sovereign Damir put me in charge of planning the invasion, Karl. I have no idea why, but she’s treating me like her own private military advisor.”

  His friend’s mouth twitched, and he furtively glanced around again to be certain they were alone. “You know what this looks like.”

  I know exactly what it looks like, Tenel thought. Sovereign Damir is trying to take control of the Imperium. “It looks like a lot of things,” he said instead. “None of them good.”

  Karl’s eyes studied his face as if searching for a weakness. “Everyone always says the ‘Coats are the ones who really call the shots. I never believed them before, but now…”

  “I’m not sure what to say,” Tenel whispered. “But one way or another, we’re about to enter another war.”

  Karl nodded. “I thought you might know why the ‘Coats chose you, but it sounds almost random. They’ve never really cared about vorhang like us before. But High Command is about ready to throw a fit.”

  “They can’t know anything about me,” Tenel warned. “Not yet, anyway.”

  “They won’t hear it from me,” Karl assured him. “I just wish you knew more.”

  “So do I.”

  They stood in silence for a few moments before Karl clapped his old friend on the back. “What the hell are you doing here at noon, anyway? Where’s Chalandra?”

  “Back at the cabin with the kids,” Tenel said. “I told her I wanted to mull around town a bit.”

  Karl grunted. “Look, I have most of the day before I have to leave. Let’s go back together and bring her something nice.”

  Tenel smiled. “You know, between the two of us, I’ve always thought you were the one who should have gotten married.”

  “Nonsense,” the other man said with a thin smile. “Neither of us should be.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “We appreciate your assistance in this matter, Your Majesty. I know you would never allow a renegade channeler free in your own capital. The vaeyn is dangerous, both to you and us, and she must be dealt with appropriately.”

  —Lord Alric to King Areekan

  Elade was halfway across one of the pristine white marble bridges in the Sylinar District when a warning tingle suddenly rippled down her spine. Taking in a deep breath, she pulled back on the reins and stretched out with her mind…and the tingle instantly transformed into a full-blown shudder.

  There were demons nearby.

  Her hand instinctively dropped down to the pommel of her sword, and she narrowed her eyes at the seemingly endless rows of high-class estates lining the opposite s
ide of the street. It didn’t take long to pinpoint the demons’ location, and her first instinct was to spur her mount forward and charge straight in. She had been waiting for this moment for several days now, and the faster she pounced upon this warlock, the less chance he would have of eluding her grasp.

  Unfortunately, she was as much of a pariah in Celenest as this warlock was at the moment, and charging forward with her sword drawn would only draw the Solarian soldiers down upon her. No, she would need to be subtle. Dusk was fast approaching, and once the shadows deepened she could flit about the darkness with impunity. Elade briefly considered contacting Talroy and asking for his help, but she didn’t want to risk using their shared mental link and potentially alerting the other knights in the city. Sadly, their next meeting wasn’t scheduled for another two hours, and she wasn’t willing to wait that long. She would have to handle this alone.

  But that was all right. One way or another, it was time to end this chase and unravel the mystery of General Ethan Moore.

  Once she approached within a few blocks of her destination, Elade dismounted and tied her horse off on a nearby pole. This district was crawling with city watchmen, particularly at this hour, and she had already found it difficult to avoid drawing attention to herself while on the main streets. She decided that it was time to try her luck with the shadows instead. They had been her ally once, after all, and there was no reason they couldn’t be again.

  Less than five minutes later she was hunched down in a thick cluster of bushes across the street from the infested mansion. At this range, she could detect three distinct foes within: two on the main level of the house and a third down below in the basement. The latter was definitely the most powerful, though she couldn’t discern a specific breed without seeing it in person. Not that it mattered—she had battled and defeated every type of Void-spawned monstrosity before, and these would be no different. Her more immediate concern was that she didn’t see a particularly promising escape route. The smallest disturbance would undoubtedly summon the city guards, and she doubted she would even be able to make it back to her horse before they arrived.

  But escape was a secondary concern. The demons were her first priority, and as long as she could destroy them and subdue Jason’s father, her task in this city would be completed. Then she could return to the Citadel in peace and face the Conclave’s “justice.”

  Taking in a deep breath, Elade waited patiently for a gap in the pedestrian traffic before she dashed across the street and vaulted over the fence. She half expected a pack of watch hounds to come barking at her from around the corner, but of course they didn’t—animals typically reacted so violently to the presence of demons that General Moore wouldn’t be able to use them as sentries. She slipped up to the closest window and pressed her ear against the glass, but she didn’t hear anything inside. For all intents and purposes, the house appeared deserted.

  While quietly unsheathing her sword, Elade reached out to the Aether and wrapped herself in a field of protective energy. She then glanced up to one of the second floor windows and concentrated on the shadows just inside the pane of glass. A skilled burglar could probably climb the siding, unlock the window, and crawl inside the house…but a channeler didn’t need to rely on such banalities. Instead she folded the shadows between the two empty spaces, and an instant later she vanished from the ground and appeared inside the house just like she had stepped through an invisible doorway.

  Elade found herself inside a modest room with light-hearted decorations suggesting it had likely been the bedroom of a small child at some point. Right now it was unoccupied, and no creatures lurched from the shadows or otherwise reacted to her presence. She crept across the floor as quietly as she could manage, and she had just started to open the door when her nostrils flared at the unmistakable scent of fresh blood.

  Swallowing heavily, she turned towards the closet along the adjacent wall. The room was so dark that a human would have trouble seeing much of anything, but her vaeyn eyes could make out the small smear of blood on the carpet leading into the closet. She couldn’t sense any demons nearby—they were all still past the door—but she readied her weapon just in case and gently nudged open the door.

  And immediately wished she hadn’t.

  The mangled carcass of an adolescent human child hung inside the closet. He had been skinned, likely while still alive, and Elade turned her head away from the gore. She had fought against demons all her life, and she had seen the horrors they could inflict first-hand…but somehow she had never become completely inoculated from the pain or the horror. Perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing.

  Gritting her teeth, Elade shuffled back to the doorway and cracked open the handle—

  “Is there something we can help you with, paladin?”

  Elade raised her sword and dropped into a defensive crouch. She didn’t see anyone at first, but eventually a middle-aged man appeared near the top of the staircase roughly fifteen feet to her right. He wore elaborate, noble-class clothing that would have been impressive if it weren’t drenched in blood. His frilled white tunic and matching gloves were almost entirely red, and he held a serrated dagger in his left hand. He smiled pleasantly, as if offering directions to a stranger.

  “Where is your master, demon?” Elade demanded. She could sense the swirling hatred of the dark creature lurking inside the nobleman’s body, and the normally dormant energy in her tattoos swelled in response to its presence.

  “He does not wish to be disturbed,” the demon said, creeping up another step. “Not even by such a…delicious specimen as yourself.”

  Elade stood and extended her sabre. “Release these people now, and I will grant you a quick banishment.”

  “But my dear,” a female voice said from behind her, “that wouldn’t let us prove the master wrong.”

  A noblewoman emerged from one of the bedrooms behind her. Blood spackled her cheeks and blouse, and her sadistic smile was even more haunting than her husband’s.

  “He seems to think we should be afraid of one little paladin,” the man said. “Can you believe that?”

  “Last chance,” Elade warned, angling her left foot for better balance as she mentally planned her attack. Ideally, she would prefer to exorcise the demons without harming the host bodies…but considering that she was flanked and outnumbered, there was a chance she’d be forced to kill one or perhaps even both of them. Considering what the demons had forced them to do to their own child, perhaps that would have been the most merciful outcome…

  “Come, my pretty little vaeyn,” the noblewoman said. “Show us the darkness in your heart.”

  The demons attacked. The woman curled her hands into makeshift claws and pounced, while the man lunged forward with his dagger scything back and forth in front of him. They were daring Elade to harm their host bodies—they would feed off her regret and guilt and become even more powerful. Thankfully, she wasn’t out of options just yet.

  Reaching out to the Aether, Elade summoned her shimmering shield onto her left arm and slammed it into the female’s chin. She staggered backwards, dazed, and Elade quickly shifted her weight and parried away the male’s frenzied attacks. With a well-timed flick of her wrist, she sent his dagger careening away down the stairs before leaning back and kicking him hard in the stomach.

  Against any normal foes, she could have easily cut both of them down before they recovered. But the whole point was not to kill them if she could help it, and so instead she opened her left palm and channeled a bust of searing white light through her fingertips. The demons recoiled at the brilliant flash, and they stumbled momentarily as the senses of their human hosts failed them.

  Utilizing the momentary respite, Elade shaped the Aether into an ancient technique first taught to her by the shadow knights and then again by the Last Dawn. An instant later, a bolt of pure, scintillating radiance erupted from her palm and blasted the noblewoman cleanly in the chest. She unleashed a guttural, inhuman shriek before collapsing to her k
nees, and suddenly her mouth, nose, and even ears began to glow as if someone had flicked on a glowlamp inside her skull. Just when it seemed as if she might explode, her body slumped to the ground in an unmoving heap. A tiny, disgusting creature of Void energy seeped out of her back, and it reeled and screeched as Elade’s magic sundered its connection to the mortal world. With a final agonized shriek and a last flash of light, the demon vanished.

  Its partner, unfortunately, had recovered just fine. The nobleman dove atop Elade and flattened her to the ground, and her sword skittered away across the carpet. Before he could fasten his hands around her throat, she dismissed her shield and then drove her knees hard up into his gut, hurling him up and over her so hard he crashed through a nearby desk.

  Elade flipped back to her feet and attempted to channel another banishment spell, but the demon recovered quickly. He pounced upon her again, and even with the Aether coursing through her muscles and enhancing her strength, she knew she was still no match for the demon’s raw power. Once he finally secured a grip on her throat, he smashed her into the wall like a ragdoll before slamming her down against the floor. Elade’s vision blurred as her skull cracked against the hard wood, and she tried in vain to pummel the demon off her with a series of rapid jabs to the man’s chest. The creature hissed again before leaning down and sinking his teeth into her throat.

  Elade screamed, but with the noblemen’s body now finally touching hers, the warding glyphs inscribed into her flesh finally unleashed their power. The demon squealed and recoiled, and she wriggled her right hand free and punched him across the chin. She had hoped to stagger the monster long enough to banish him, but he wasn’t finished just yet. He wrapped his arms around her neck and secured her in a tight headlock before rolling hard to his right and dragging her along with him. They crashed violently through the guard railing and plummeted down to the lower level.

  Normally, a fifteen-foot plunge onto a hard floor could easily be lethal, but Elade knew her Aetheric barrier would protect her. The nobleman’s body, unfortunately, wouldn’t be so lucky, and she desperately tried to spin herself about in mid-air to try and take the brunt of the impact. But the descent was too fast and too frantic for her to gain control over their momentum, and the instant they hit the floor she heard the unmistakable crunch of bones shattering. The nobleman’s headlock released, and his corpse sagged listlessly in her grip.