Chapter 33: Revelations

“Any word from Patera yet?” Relaila asked.

Dina had been quiet for most of the past half hour as they rode through the night. The only thing she had said was that her patron god would guide them toward their targets.

The Dark Flame shook her head. “No, nothing more. Just a feeling the gods are planning something. Or maybe more like they’re reacting to something. I don’t know. She’s acting strangely.”

Relaila knew what she meant. Remura had been uncharacteristically silent tonight as well.

“So you do miss me, dear?”

Well, there she was again, her voice loud as a millstone, grinding into Relaila’s skull.

If the god of betrayal thought Relaila would come crawling back just because she had given her the silent treatment, she was sorely mistaken. The absence of intrusions into her mind had been a blessing.

“Oh, don’t be such a bore. You know you love me.”

Relaila chose not to respond to that, instead focusing on their mission.

Where are they, then? Are you tracking them or not?

Switching from sweet lisping to roaring brutality in a heartbeat, Remura’s voice now trembled with fury when she replied.

“Know your place, Blood Sister. You are mere bugs beneath our feet, incapable of comprehending the omniscience of your gods.”

The pain searing through her skull was debilitating. Instinctively, she held up her right hand to the back of her head, as if to massage a headache away, but there was, of course, nothing she could do about it other than to listen to her god and silently suffer through the agony of her words.

“We have sent lesser gods into a flock of dire wolves, enticing them to hunt down our enemies. The three will soon be delivered into your hands.”

Is that a promise?

Remura didn’t reply, at least not with words. But the pain spiked in Relaila’s head to the point that her eyes rolled back, for a moment showing only their whites. She was glad no one could see her in the darkness. If Dina—or worse, Sir Themur—knew she was actively questioning her patron god, she was certain they would turn on her in an instant.

And still, she couldn’t stop herself from challenging Remura.

It wasn’t that she had lost faith in the gods of the world. How could she, when they could literally be both seen and heard? They were very real and very present. She still believed in them. She even obeyed them. She just didn’t want to worship them anymore.

The gods’ decision to actively involve the lesser spirits in the hunt bothered her, too. It was one thing to have them track the targets and report back their location, as they had done before. But to have them influence wild animals to do the hunting for them introduced a new level of unpredictability to the mission. The wolves weren’t exactly puppets of the gods. They had independent minds, with their own hungers and desires. Feeding their predatory instincts with divine bloodlust could end very badly.

“What does Mardocar say?” she asked the Knight Eternal.

Sir Themur’s reply, muffled through his thick black helmet, was short and to the point. “Nothing.”

To Relaila, his voice seemed strained. Not for the first time since they had been ordered to serve together, she wished she could see his face. Eyes could sometimes tell you things a person’s voice never did, she thought.

For a moment, they rode through the night in silence, the steps of their horses lit only by the silver moonlight. Above the treetops, they could hear the fluttering of wings and the melodic chirping of a woodcock flying across the sky.

She breathed out slowly, trying to relax. If it hadn’t been for the gods, this could have been a pleasant outing through the summer night with her friends. Instead, she could only see carnage and death at the end of their journey.

“I wish this mission was over,” Dina suddenly said, seemingly mirroring her thoughts. “Then I could go back to healing my patients.”

There’s a little more to it than that, though, isn’t there? Relaila thought. It’s not just about healing. There’s always a price to pay.

But she didn’t say anything. After all, Dina was her friend, and it wasn’t her place to judge the Dark Flame. She was busy enough judging herself.

Farther down the dark road, beyond a bend ahead of them, she saw a small light casting flickering shadows among the trees.

“I’d go fishing,” Sir Themur said unexpectedly. His stoic voice was entirely void of humor.

His comment was so out of character that a small chuckle escaped Relaila before she managed to swallow it. You just didn’t laugh at a Knight Eternal. The bound servants of the god of genocide weren’t exactly known for their lighthearted or forgiving nature.

“Do you have a favorite place?” Dina chirped in, apparently less concerned with her own survival.

At first, Sir Themur didn’t reply.

Relaila noted the light ahead was getting stronger. She could barely make out the distant silhouette of a person—perhaps more than one.

Finally, the Knight Eternal answered Dina. “I haven’t gone fishing for 160 years. But I’d like to go back to Orenleaf and do it with my great-grandchildren.”

“That sounds nice,” Relaila said, then quipped, “Can I come?”

He just turned and looked at her. Considering she had tried to sacrifice them to Remura less than two weeks prior, she could imagine the dark stare he must be giving her from within the confines of his helmet.

As they approached the light, she was beginning to hear sounds coming from the road up ahead. The night was pierced by shouts, shrill and terrified.

Then she heard the growling, raw and primal.

At the back of her mind, she could feel Remura stir, giddy with anticipation. The predators had found their prey.

“Stand back,” Sir Themur commanded Relaila and Dina as he dismounted his horse. “I don’t trust the wolves.”

His friends followed suit, and together they quickly tied their animals to an old spruce by the side of the road.

Drawing his long sword and holding it before him, the Knight Eternal stood ready to defend the three of them should the dire wolves turn their attention their way. Relaila steadied herself, readying her dark magic for the confrontation to come.

Suddenly, the person holding the torch shouted for their help. The people up ahead had spotted them.

Only it wasn’t their targets being attacked by the wolves, as they had expected. Instead of three young adults, there were two grown persons and a pair of terrified children, huddled beside a broken-down cart by the side of the road.

The gods, in their infinite power and wisdom, had managed to let the animals slip from their control and attack some random family they had encountered along the way instead.

“Isn’t this going to be fun?” Remura’s hoarse voice wheezed inside Relaila’s mind.

She felt sick.

These aren’t our targets, she thought.

The god of betrayal laughed, drunk on the family’s fear. “I know, I know, dear. But I couldn’t help myself. Just a little snack before dinner. Enjoy!”

There was a time when she would have. In fact, for most of her adult life, ever since she had abandoned her position as a Fire Breather in favor of Patera’s dark magic, she had delighted in the suffering of others.

But not anymore.

Sir Themur turned to face Dina and Relaila. “I will deal with the wolves. Condemn me if you must, but I will not let them tear those children to pieces.”

Condemn him? Here she had been worrying about how to go against the will of the gods without invoking the Knight Eternal’s wrath, and now he was the one fearing hers.

She felt as if someone had emptied a puzzle box and the pieces had magically snapped together as they fell upon the table. Relief flooded her, bringing the dizzying sensation of a world that had been wrong, and then flipped completely upside down only to reveal itself, at last, as finally right. Now she could relax, no longer having to keep up her act around him.

Dina stared at him, fire in her eyes. “You scare away the wolves. I’ll tend to the children.”

“I’ll stand with you, Sir,” Relaila said, her voice filled with newfound pride. Her quiet rebellion had finally been spoken into words. Now there were three of them. Three against the will of the gods. Chances were, things would not go well.

But somehow, she was fine with that.

Sir Themur walked into the horde of dire wolves, his strides long and confident. Wielding his heavy shield, he brushed off their frantic attacks while simultaneously striking at them with his sword.

He did seem tired, though.

Relaila raised her hand to invoke her dark magic. Calling on Remura, she prepared to incinerate one of the wolves that was charging at the father of the family.

Nothing happened.

There was no fire. Not even a spark. It was as if she had never had any magic at all. Not just forgotten how to wield it, but as if she had never learned it in the first place.

With malice in its eyes, the ferocious animal turned its attention toward Relaila. The large canine bared its teeth in a growl as it bore down on her. Instinctively, she called on her dark magic again.

A flame, wide as a tree trunk, shot out from her right palm, roaring as it engulfed the predator attacking her. The heat set fire to its fur, and it cried out in pain before breaking off its attack. The air filled with the nauseating stench of its singed mane.

Relieved her fire magic was back, she stepped forward, placing herself in front of the terrified family to better protect them. Only seconds later, another dire wolf bared its teeth at her. She turned to face it, only barely having time to call on her fire again. At the last moment, the superheated air incinerated the head of the animal as it was about to sink its sharp teeth into her unprotected arm.

In the corner of her eye, she could see Sir Themur battling two other wolves. One of them had a firm grip on the Knight’s lower leg with its powerful jaws. His thick armor probably protected him from any damage, Relaila thought, but the pull of the heavy animal slowed him down.

“Look out!” she shouted, warning him of what was to come.

With her left hand, she effortlessly threw, almost as an afterthought, a fireball in the general direction of the fight. She didn’t need to kill the animal, only hurt it enough that it’d let go of Sir Themur, and she didn’t dare break her attention from the family.

It was fortunate she didn’t. From out of the darkness beyond the torch, a large black dire wolf came rushing, its sights set on one of the children. Relaila raised her hands to engulf it in the fiery wrath of her patron god’s dark magic, but again, nothing happened.

The wolf kept coming.

“Themur!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, desperately begging for his help. It was all she had time to say before she threw herself into the path of the charging beast. She wasn’t strong enough to stop it, but at least she managed to interrupt its attack. It turned to face her, ready to rip her to pieces with its terrifying jaws.

A moment later, it was burning with a crackling sound as its skin split under the immense heat of her divine fire. The air reeked of burning flesh and acrid smoke.

“You okay?” Sir Themur shouted back, unable to break from his own fight with one of the remaining wolves.

“I’m good!” she replied, hoping he heard her over the noise of the battle and the snarling canines.

To her left, she could hear the Knight Eternal panting from exhaustion. He didn’t seem like himself tonight, Relaila thought. Normally, Mardocar would sustain him, but now it seemed as if he had to carry the weight of his heavy iron sword and shield himself.

As she watched, he cut off the head of an attacking wolf with a swift stroke of his weapon. She could see his arm tremble as he held it, but at least the animal was dead.

With that, the remaining wolves began to hesitate, their attacks becoming less and less confident. Seeing that they were beginning to waver, Sir Themur held his shield and weapon high into the air and screamed like a madman as he charged the group.

The leading animal took a step backward.

Without a sound, two of the other wolves suddenly turned and began to run away. With their ranks now disintegrating as their morale dwindled, the rest of the animals began to flee as well.

Moments later, the fight was over.

She looked at Dina, sitting beside the two terrified children next to the broken cart.

“How are they?” Relaila asked.

Dina looked up. Meeting the concerned eyes of the father, she directed her reply to him instead.

“They’re alright. The boy’s fine. Just a few scratches. The girl was bitten on her leg, but it’s not fatal. I’m a healer, I can help her.”

The shout, and the sword that followed it, seemingly came out of nowhere.

“I forbid you!”

Sir Themur stood towering above the Dark Flame, his large black sword between her and the children.

Dina looked up at him, her face white with fear. And yet, somehow, she was also smiling.

“No,” she said. “No, I didn’t mean that. Not with Patera.”

“Then how?” the Knight Eternal demanded, steel in his voice. “If you hurt any of these four, I will end your life here and now.”

She rose to face him. As her fear subsided, the smile on her face became more evident. By now, even Sir Themur had to see it.

Stuttering slightly, Dina tried to explain. “I don’t… I mean, when I healed Relaila, I had no sacrifice. Patera wouldn’t let me heal her.”

“You said she made an exception,” he barked.

“I healed her with the Deepwell,” Dina replied, somewhat embarrassed. “I lied. I didn’t dare tell any of you.”

Slowly, Sir Themur retracted his sword.

This was going to be interesting, Relaila thought. They certainly had a lot to talk about now.

Author's Note

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