The Celestial Paladin

by Gil Hough

CHAPTER 15

  DARK SHADOWS

  Doi’van led the three deeper into the great cathedral and said, “Sir Rodregas, congratulations are in order for becoming a Knight of the Soaring Heavens, but I fear Van’dret is getting suspicious. You now have the right to enter the Chamber that holds the greater sigils. I think you need to go there now.”

  Rodregas nodded. “Can I bring you two into the Chamber as my advisors?”

  “That does seem to be allowed,” said Imeralda, “Traditionally that is more about fathers with sons, not half bloods and Hellborns, but I think we might have a bigger problem.” She stopped speaking mid sentence, and Rodregas curiously looked back at her, but she was staring ahead. A figure stood there tall and graceful. He had appeared out of nowhere, as if by magic. It was Van’dret.

  “Ah, I see the three of you are all together and far away from the others, how convenient for me.” Van’dret casually reached out toward the side wall and they could vaguely hear him mumble a few words. A second later the sound of doors slamming and bolts and locks sliding closed echoed from every direction. “I hope you don’t mind, but I don’t think I want to be interrupted.”

  Rodregas reached for his sword, but found he did not have one. He froze for but a second, unsure of what to do. Then Van’dret spit on the ground and spoke a guttural sound. Suddenly Rodregas’ and the others’ feet were stuck to the ground, and no matter how hard they pulled their feet would not move. “You know there is a reason that the Immortalist Sorcerers rule this land. I have a few questions for you though before I leave your dried up husks behind for the rats.”

  Rodregas growled to himself and pulled the only weapon he had, a small dagger, out and threw it hard straight at Van’dret. A second dagger flew almost in the same heart beat from Doi’van. The sorcerer simply waved in the air and both daggers flew to the side and clattered off the wall.

  The sorcerer smiled, standing tall, and Rodregas had to admit he seemed very relaxed and in control. His expensive black and gold robes were perfectly cut, his dark hair was slicked back. He might be wearing the body of a twenty year old, but he showed all the self confidence of a man who counted his age in decades if not centuries.

  Van’dret’s voice reflected the articulation and grace of a man who had all the time in the world to enjoy the finer things in life. “So let us dispense with the silly games and lies. Let me be clear about something. You killed Nordien who was a friend of mine. You all die this day. There is no need for you to use deceptions or exaggerations. You die today either way, so speak the truth and it will be a less interesting death.”

  Rodregas was furious at himself to be this close to gaining a greater sigil and having achieved knighthood, and then to be caught in a hallway this close to the chamber. That, of course, was life. There were no simple victories. “What do you want to know?” Rodregas asked.

  “An Immortalist sorcerer died recently and then this summer someone ambushed a caravan with fresh stock for the Menagerie. I believe these two events are connected, and I even think you might be the connection,” Van’dret said. His words gaining an edge of anger at the end.

  Rodregas glanced at the other two. Doi’van met his inquiring look, but did not respond. Imeralda was huddled behind Doi’van’s great bulk. For a moment Rodregas thought she was hiding from fear of the great sorcerer. Then he saw she was actually reading one of the Grimoires that she must have had with her. Her fingers were making patterns in the air. She was too busy to look up at Rodregas, but he almost smiled. He had no idea what she was trying to do, but at least they had something to try. He needed to keep Van’dret busy to give Imeralda time to do whatever magic she was going to cast.

  Rodregas turned to Van’dret and said, “Well, since you are killing us today, how about we make things interesting for both sides? I will answer a question of yours every time that you answer one of mine.”

  Van’dret expression darkened and he almost hissed his outrage, “You would bargain with me, with your life held by a string?”

  For some strange reason that Rodregas was sure reflected a very deep character flaw, he felt his face break out in a very large toothy grin as he said, “And I have what to lose?”

  Van’dret stared at him for several long minutes before he shrugged and said, “Very well, ask me your question, but then you will answer mine or you die.”

  Rodregas simply nodded. He had no lack of questions, but was not sure which to ask first. He decided going small first would cause a less violent reaction. Rodregas said, “How did you find us down here?”

  Van’dret’s expression at the question was like he had asked why is the sky blue. He nearly sneered his answer, “Through magic, of course, a simple tracking spell.” Van’dret did not go small, “Are you three responsible for the death of the Immortalist Sorcerer Ravenhurr?”

  “Yes and no,” responded Rodregas. He almost left it at that, but decided to continue, “I killed Ravenhurr during the Ceremony of Ascension. I threw him into his own consuming flames. The other two I did not meet until afterwards.”

  At Rodregas’ response Van’dret stared at him, “You killed an Immortalist Sorcerer by yourself in his tower? You truly claim that?”

  Rodregas almost laughed. He did chuckle a bit as he said, “First, you want me to admit that I killed an Immortalist Sorcerer, and when I do, you don’t believe me. An old soldier like me just can’t win.”

  Van’dret was too smart not to pick up his hint, “An old soldier?” he asked very quietly.

  “My turn to ask a question,” said Rodregas. “How did you connect the three of us to these crimes?”

  Van’dret shrugged and smiled and said, “To be honest, I did not really think you were the ones. I simply did not like you, and the way you hung out with non-Celestials. It is unnatural. Now, it is my turn to ask a question.”

  “Actually,” interrupted Rodregas, “you already asked me about being an old soldier. Let me answer that first. I was a sergeant in Ravenhurr’s guard and I am afraid I have become what I learned to hate more than anything, an Immortalist.” Rodregas paused and took a deep breath. What he said next was hard even for himself to say, “In truth, I am an old man who had his time on this world and did not do much with it. But now I have stolen the body of a very promising young man. I will die feeling guilty for what I have done, but I plan to take a few of you with me. Now, it is my turn for a question,” he said.

  Rodregas hoped that Imeralda would do whatever she was going to do soon; the conversation was escalating and he did not think they had much time before things got deadly. Rodregas asked, “Why did the Immortalist Taiga capture my friend Doi’van and keep him in his Menagerie of Earth, Sky and Fire for two years before selling him to Ravenhurr? He is a Hellborn and should have been of no interest to those trying to become Celestial Gods.”

  Van’dret became very still at this question, for a long moment he neither moved nor spoke. Rodregas wondered briefly if he even breathed or if the powerful sorcerer had moved beyond such mortal needs. Finally Van’dret said, “I cannot say what was in the minds of others.”

  Van’dret started to raise his hand and Rodregas spoke quickly trying to keep him engaged, “So, are you saying there are not Immortalists led by Taiga who are breaking ‘The One Law’ set by both the Gods in the Celestial Realm and the Daemon Lordsin the Infernal to keep balance?”

  Van’dret went pale at Rodregas words and then he stood up very tall. For the first time true anger was in his words, “You do not know what you are getting in the middle of. You are barely more than a squire and yet you would get in a battle of beings so much greater than you?”

  The Immortalist went from anger to laughter, but his laughter did not last long. His laughter was like all things Immortalist, beautiful but cold. When it ended he said simply, “Time for the three of you to die.”

  What Rodregas did next he knew was meaningless, but he hoped it would give Imeralda a last chance to act. He reached inside where he used to find h
is ‘itch,’ except his former little magical power was now a raging volcano. He had learned from Imeralda a new spell to make light; he waved his hands, mumbled the incantation, and then threw all his power, and sent it straight at Van’dret in a stream of energy that felt like a river of lava flowing from his hands.

  In fact there was not so much as a flicker of light. Rodregas lacked the discipline to channel the power. Van’dret’s senses were acute on things arcane and he felt the coming flood of power as if it was a real physical thing. Van’dret spread his hands and made a frantic move that sent a corona of power around him. Of course no focused magic came near him, and what did occur startled even Rodregas. Imeralda was literally flying through the air and she had her dagger drawn. She did not land smoothly, colliding into Van’dret’s lower body, but she instantly straightened and thrust her dagger into Van’dret’s stomach.

  The dagger did not sink far; a few inches. Rodregas expected Van’dret to get his hands up and fend her off, but he seemed to be in shock. Imeralda pulled the dagger out and then viscously stuck it back in the sorcerer, her body moved with the stroke, clearly using every ounce of strength she had. Still the blade only stuck in a few inches, but Van’dret screamed and fell to the floor and started to drag himself away.

  As soon as the surprisingly high pitch of Van’dret scream sounded, both Doi’van’s and Rodregas’ feet were free. Rodregas stumbled for a moment, but was running almost, even as he caught himself. Imeralda was stepping forward with the dagger to finish Van’dret, but he caught her arm and said, “Wait. Stop, let me. He should be as strong as I am. Let me and Doi’van get in close.” She hesitated, but nodded and handed her dagger to him.

  Doi’van pounded past the two and picked Van’dret off the ground, by the front of his robes, and gave him a backhanded slap across the face. It was with enough power to have snapped a normal man’s neck, but Van’dret looked more startled than hurt.

  “Gag him and don’t let him move his fingers,” said Imeralda. Even as Doi’van nodded he slapped his open palm against Van’dret’s mouth and used his other hand to grab one of the sorcerer’s free hands. Rodregas grabbed the other.

  “Put him on the ground and kneel on him,” Rodregas said to Doi’van. The Hellborn nodded and pushed the sorcerer down on the cold stone ground. He next straddled the man with his knees, pining his shoulders.

  “I am going to ask him a few questions. If either of you think he is going to cast a spell, kill him.” The other two nodded at Rodregas. Rodregas reached down and slid the blade under the sorcerer’s chin and said, “One spell and you die,” he then nodded to Doi’van and the Hellborn lifted his hand a few inches from Van’dret’s mouth.

  Van’dret whispered, “Please, I am bleeding. I need to see a healer.” Rodregas stared at the sorcerer in disbelief. He suffered a few minor injuries and he expected they would just go get him a healer? The man killed people to steal their bodies and power. How could he think they would respond to such a request? “Please hurry, I need a healer now,” Van’dret demanded.

  “We will get you a healer as soon as you finish answering our questions,” said Doi’van, his voice more growl than speech. “First tell us who among the Immortalists are trying to break ‘The One Law’ and why,”

  “I can’t,” Van’dret whimpered. “I mean I don’t know anything about Immortalists breaking ‘The One Law.’” He suddenly groaned and would have doubled up if Doi’van had not been sitting on his chest. Imeralda smiled. She was poking his two wounds with her fingers.

  Strangely, his tone strengthened with the pain. Rodregas had been getting the idea that it had been a long time since Van’dret had faced any uncomfortable physical injury, a very, very, long time. But his chin came up and his body tried to straighten as he said, “I am an Ambassador for the Immortalist Guild, a friend to the Guild Dealer Taiga himself. How dare you?” Then he said a single word and from his mouth poured a huge wind, Doi’van flayed around trying to hold on to Van’dret, but he lost his grip and hit the ceiling hard.

  Rodregas crunched the fingers he was holding and heard them snap, even as he was being pushed away. With the snapping of the fingers the wind stopped. Rodregas then dropped the hand, grabbed Van’dret’s head and twisted. He remembered that day in Raven Tower when he had snapped Korin’s neck and his arms bunched up, his muscles rippling with the strain. Van’dret was an Immortalist. His neck did not snap easily, but it snapped. Rodregas did not stop snapping it until he had the man’s face looking into the rock below.

  The three sat there for a minute and then stepped away to rest against the far wall to get some distance from Van’dret’s body. After a few minutes Doi’van said, “Well, one more Immortalist down, that’s good.” The other two nodded.

  Rodregas said, “We did not learn much more though. We still don’t really understand why they are interested in Infernal power now and willing to break The One Law.”

  “You mean if that is what they are doing. We really don’t know for sure, other than for Ravenhurr,” said Imeralda.

  Doi’van, sounding like granite, said, “I know Taiga is involved.”

  The other two nodded, but did not pursue that thought. Rodregas then said, “I agree we are just starting to figure out that there is something big going on. I can’t believe even the Immortalists would be crazy enough to go up against both the Celestial Gods and the Daemon Lordsof the Infernal though.”

  Imeralda nodded and said, “What price is so high as to be even better than God hood?” The three sat silent for a few minutes soaking in that question.

  Rodregas looked at Imeralda and asked, “Well, we can’t answer that today, but how did you break Van’dret’s spell?”

  Imeralda nodded and with a smile said, “I always hoped that if I had to take on a sorcerer it would be in the Forest where I would have an edge, but no, it had to be in a hallway! I knew my regular spells; he would counter without a problem. So I had to work around the spell. The spell was one to hold you from walking or running. I actually tried to dance or hop,” she said with a smile. “But he was too good, he had those covered. But, I have been practicing a spell to float in the air, and that worked. The spell was not designed to stop someone from floating in place. And then I told Doi’van to throw me at Van’dret.”

  “That was a crazy chance, as an Immortalist he could have split you in two with his bare hands,” said Rodregas.

  “I know,” she said, her voice a little shaken. “But we were out of options and it was the only thing I could think of.” Then she added with more confidence, “Plus, while everyone knows a knight might learn a bit of magic, a sorcerer never learns to fight. They have servants for that.”

  The three shared a smile at that. Rodregas was very glad that he had insisted that she learn the fundamentals of blade work. “So what now?” he asked.

  “Now we go see if we can get some greater sigils,” said Doi’van.

  “We?” Rodregas asked. “And have you decided to take a greater sigil even it if cost you most of your magic?”

  Doi’van nodded and said, “Yes, I like to learn magic, but we are on a mission, one that is very important. The Immortalists, especially Taiga, must be stopped. If we are going to do that I will be of most use as a warrior. We have a powerful magic user,” he said with a smile. Imeralda smiled back at the complement and the three got back and continued their walk to the Chamber of Sigils.