‘So, I strongly suggest all three of you play nice.’
Chapter 14
Thelonious was the first one to drop his weapon, slipping off the harness that held his bastard sword and doing his best to make it very clear that he had no intention of drawing it. Syline followed suit, dropping her axe along with her staff.
‘And the spell-books!’ called the woman. ‘Both on the ground, and a wand if you have one.’
The archers all trained their bows on Syline. They knew that, at this distance, she was the only one who could pose a threat to them. Syline sighed and lowered her satchel to the ground, then pulled her wand – which seemed insignificant beside the staff now – and placed it inside the bag. She held up her hands to show they were empty. Now, only Amberly had not given up her weapons. The leader of these hunters let out a soft chuckle.
‘Keep your blade if you must, little paladin. We all know you’re no threat now your god’s abandoned you.’ Her voice was melodic, playful. Syline swore she heard Amberly growl louder than that demonic hound.
‘Anyway.’
The woman clapped her hands before her, seemingly a signal, because two of her men stepped in front of her, lowering their bows and drawing short swords. The rest of them seemed to relax somewhat, their bowstrings lax.
‘Lady Petrov has sent me here to make you an offer, resolve this peacefully. Isn’t that nice of her?’ she cooed, sickly sweet. Brushing her hand through short cropped blonde hair.
In black leathers, with short hair, daggers all over her body and a scar across her lip that put her face in a permanent sneer, the woman looked like she’d put work into perfecting the image of dangerous beauty.
She stood, waiting, expectant. It took Thelonious nudging her for Syline to realise she was waiting for her to reply.
Syline did her best to seem confident and in control. In her mind, she ran through every incantation she had memorised and wondered if she’d be able to use a single one of them before the woman’s men filled her with arrows. She’d need her staff to use them anyway, so really, she was helpless. Gulping down her fears, she stepped forward. Amberly began to as well, but Thelonious, the calm presence amongst them, grabbed her by the arm. At that moment, he did not trust Amberly to not go rushing at them. The fire and fury in her eyes were enough to burn a thousand sinners. Syline was left desperately trying to hide her fears behind an air of bravado as she racked her brain for what a hero from one of her books would do now.
She gulped again against the dryness in her mouth before stammering out, ‘It’s proper to introduce yourself before speaking to a noblewoman!’
The woman laughed playfully, a grin breaking out on her features.
‘Oh. Where. Are. My. Manners? Here I was, talking to you as if you were just a fellow adventurer but oh no, no, you’re Syline Petranski. Mustn’t forget that. My apologies, Lady Petranski.’ She lowered herself in a mocking bow. ‘I am Teagan Austere, and this is Yaldabaoth.’
She patted the head of the demon before her who snarled; its lips pulling back until its muzzle was nothing but muscle and bone. It had a terrible intelligence in its eyes. It wasn’t just a simple hound, and its eyes locked wholly on Amberly.
‘There,’ she continued. ‘Does that settle your sensibilities, milady?’
Syline’s nose wrinkled and her brow furrowed. She really didn’t know what to do from here and she couldn’t think of anything to say, so she simply nodded.
‘Lady Petrov has, well, actually, more than a deal it’s probably better to call this an ultimatum.’
‘Get to the point,’ said Thelonious.
‘Thank you,’ said one of Teagan’s henchmen in the back.
‘Fine, fine.’ The woman grumbled something to herself before standing up straight and addressing Syline.
‘Your mother and your mentor have both been poisoned. He has maybe three nights, her, a fortnight. Obviously, we couldn’t target a noble-head with an obvious poison, but no one’s going to miss an old archivist.’
Her voice was sickly sweet, the grin never fading. That sent shock radiating through Syline’s form. This was the worst possible outcome to her. They had gone after her family: her mother, and the man she thought of as much like a father. They couldn’t reach her, so they hurt those they could. It was her fault; it was all her fault. A strangled gasp wracked her, tears coming to her eyes.
‘Now, now, no need to cry, love. No need to cry,’ Teagan said, waving her hands to calm her. ‘All you have to do is hand over the book and disappear. Leave the kingdom with your friends here, and don’t come back. Then, they’ll both get cured.’
As Syline reeled from the suggestion, Teagan distracted herself, looking up at the sky and tapping her chin. Whilst she did, her demonic hound pulled forwards on its chain, getting closer to Amberly and Thelonious, intent on ripping the hellblooded and the ex-paladin alike to shreds. Amberly’s face was just as ferocious as the hound’s, but she seemed to be forcibly holding herself back, not giving into the fury she had earlier in the place below. The beast snarled, eyes flicking between them, but when Amberly spat at her feet and let out a snarl of her own, its eyes settled fully on her.
‘Tell you what, this wasn’t in the deal, but I hate making a cute thing cry, so, when we escort you south, you can write a letter to your mother. Tell her you’re okay, as long as you make it very clear not to raise a fuss and not to come looking for you. I’ll deliver it to her myself. Unseen of course. Isn’t that kind of me?’
‘Syline, only you can make this choice,’ Thelonious said, but it was clear what he thought the correct choice was.
There was no winning this. Her family, the people she cared for, were in danger, but this would mean she’d never get to see them again. She’d never get to go home. Never get to finish this. She’d lost. She sighed, the fight going out of her as she limply picked up the satchel, making it very clear she was not trying to open it. Holding it out in front of her, she slowly approached Teagan, who moved to do the same, her swagger full of pomp and confidence.
‘You’re making the smart choice,’ Teagan assured her, placing a hand atop the satchel. Then, a roar shook the world. The demonic hound couldn’t abide Amberly any longer: it tore from its chains and leapt for the paladin. Teagan cursed as she leapt back, yelling for both her archers and the hound. In the next instant, Amberly had rolled beneath the leaping hellhound and was running for Teagan and Syline, Teagan’s nearest guard moved to intercept. Amberly met the guard in full charge, her blade smashing his aside before plunging deep into his heart. Ahead of her, archers readied their bows, and the paladin held on tight to the man.
Syline still stood, holding out the satchel waiting for someone to take it, tears in her eyes and mind filled with thoughts of never seeing her sisters again. She hadn’t caught up with the world as it went mad around her.
With all that going on, few noticed Thelonious had pulled a hidden blade from within his armour before he grabbed Teagan by the wrist, his face contorted in anger. The hellblooded yanked her close and stabbed his blade into her side. The woman screamed but was able to kick him off and pull away, retreating behind her men with her hand at her side.
Both archers loosed arrows at Amberly, which impacted into the corpse, the dead man making for a charnel shield. Teagan was in full retreat. Thelonious threw Syline behind him as some arrows were loosed their way, blocked and deflected by the man’s armour. Only a few moments had passed since Yaldabaoth had yanked free.
It’d taken Syline that long to realise what was happening. Reality snapped back to her. The choice had been taken away from her, they were fighting anyway, even though she’d tried to make the smart choice. Even though she hadn’t rushed in blindly this time.
‘Wait! Stop!’ she cried out, from behind Thelonious. No one heard her, not even Thelonious seemed to hear her. ‘I agreed to your terms, we don’t have to fight!’ An arrow landed by her ankle and she leapt with a yelp. No one was listening. It was all falling apart and it was all because of that demon and–
And Amberly.
But it was too late to think about that now. Whose fault this was could come later, for now, she had to survive this. She threw the satchel’s strap over her shoulder as she thought through what to do next. One man was dead already, a second mercenary was running after the pair of Amberly and Yaldabaoth. Teagan had produced a scroll and was speaking the trigger phase. Syline feared it was going to be a fireball until the fast bleeding on Teagan’s side slowed, then stopped.
The last pair of men were drawing fresh arrows back, trained on Thelonious. In the moment of chaos, he had dropped the dagger and grabbed the fallen mercenary’s shortsword. He charged at them, drawing their focus wholly on him. One loosed their arrow before he could close the distance, and Thelonious caught it in the meat of his bicep with a growl. The other arrow went wide, and he was forced to relinquish his bow to Thelonious’ off hand to avoid being yanked into the man’s thrusting blade. Thelonious reflexively hurled it into the woods as he swung at the man, the blow barely parried by the first archer who had not even drawn his shortsword, simply catching the blade on the scabbard to save his comrade.
Help Amberly deal with the swordsman, Syline thought. She knows best how to fight the demon. Then, stop the archers. Thelonious could deal with the other three better than her, and once she eliminated this one, she could back him up. Keep an eye on Teagan in case she has more dangerous scrolls or items in her repertoire.
Syline thought it odd; she realised she wasn’t all that afraid. At least, not for herself. Her main fears now were for her family. Right now, all she had was focus on getting out of this. If only that hellhound hadn’t leapt, if she’d just been able to give the stupid book up. They couldn’t die. Not for her curiosity. She had her spell-book. Thelonious and Amberly were both still armed. They had just bested far more terrible, if far more stupid, foes than this. They could defeat some hunters. With Thelonious keeping them busy, Syline had a few moments of respite and she used them to pull forth her beloved wand. The staff lay out of reach and she didn’t dare waste any more time. What spells did she have memorised? The classic arcane missiles, a spell of vanishing, flame dagger, and the arcane mount. She hadn’t bothered searching for anything new since she’d set out. The flame dagger wasn’t worth much without her evocation staff, not in a full-fledged battle such as this. She’d have to make do with the arcane missiles. She hadn’t the time to search the spell-book for a more powerful incantation just yet.
