“But shouldn’t we be running to Ylva’s domain while they’re distracting? They have augur support. They know we’re hiding here.”
“After they engage, more will appear to escort us. We don’t want to be caught outside if her wards fail. This building is far more defensible than open courtyards.”
“Why just three? He has a whole army of ghosts!”
“And they’ll be used later. The marksman–”
A high-pitched whine interrupted Devon. It was a somewhat familiar noise. Nel couldn’t quite place it.
It grew louder and louder as he, Eva, and the demons all looked around for the source of the noise. A blackish-red shield sprung up around the two of them.
Nel was too far away, being much closer to the door than they were.
A mounting horror grew in the pit of her stomach as Nel realized what the noise was.
“Oh no.”
Nel threw herself to the ground as far from the open door as she could reach in a single leap.
White light scarred several eyes that had stubbornly refused to shut. Her eardrums rattled in her skull as a piercing shriek tore through the air. The eyes that had remained open were crying tears of pain. And those were slowly blinking away the white spots.
Dragging herself to her feet–wobbling all the while–Nel patted herself down. Nothing was missing. Ylva’s robes weren’t even burnt. The cell house hadn’t collapsed either–they probably thought the prison was too sturdy to fall.
Their plan was probably to trap her inside this building, away from the one the augurs couldn’t pierce.
Not wasting her good fortune, Nel ran straight for Eva and Devon. The former let her shield down long enough for Nel to get inside.
“…said: what the hell was that?”
His voice sounded like a television’s white noise grinding on brillo pads. It took another minute and his hand gripping the front of her robes for Nel to realize that voice was directed at her.
“Th-they cracked the sky!”
“That means nothing to me,” he shouted. “What is it and how do we stop it.”
Nel pushed away from Devon. Being so close that the unkempt whiskers of his beard were touching her face was not something she wanted to experience anytime soon. He let her go without the expected fuss. As such, Nel bumped her head on the shield.
She winced, rubbing the spot as she answered him. “They fell to their knees before an idol, beseeching the Lord Himself to smite their foes. Us! They got authorization to crack the sky to get at
Devon let out a soft snort. “Got bad news for ya girl, your ‘Lord’ doesn’t give a damn about what happens around here.”
He rubbed his forehead before shaking his head. “No. This idol, it is a legendary artifact, isn’t it. Maybe a grimoire? Channel magic into it and get laser beams from the sky. Sounds familiar, but can’t quite remember. But, we blow it up and it stops. It has a range, what is it?”
Nel blinked. He wasn’t wrong, at least about the last part. “It’ll be nearby. Protected near the rest of the inquisitors… probably.”
“Don’t just stand there. Find out where.”
Nel was about to protest about the lack of frankincense on hand, but he immediately turned to Eva. He wouldn’t listen anyway. Nel closed her eyes.
Glimpses of the surrounding area flickered through her mind. Maintaining any one vision was impossible without frankincense, but quick flashes were within reach.
Starting where she last saw the inquisitors, Nel flickered her vision around. Four of the inquisitors, low rankers by the single bar of gold on their shoulder, held their hands outstretched towards the walls of the prison. Red-black particles of magic siphoned into their hands.
Ward breakers.
Nel made a note of their location, but moved on. The command tent was easy to locate–it was the only tent for miles. They had a map inside along with another augur. A red dot lay exactly where Nel herself was. A few other-colored dots surrounded her.
An altar had been set up behind the command tent. A statue of a man made from petrified wood rested on top of a velvet cloth. His arms were thrown to the sky as tears ran down his face. Four nuns prostrated themselves before it.
Nel stumbled as she ceased the rapid fire glimpses. She rested one hand against the shield wall, glad that it was both solid and not disintegrating her. The last time she overtaxed her glimpses, she had passed out for three days.
She had been heavily injured then. Hopefully her passing out was due more to that than abusing her augur abilities.
“That way,” Nel said, only moving her hand a small fraction. She didn’t want to tip-off any watching augurs that she was pointing out a direction. “Beyond the prison wall, there’s a tent a half-mile out. Behind it an altar has been set up. The idol is there.”
Devon rubbed his hands together as a small grin spread across his face. “Excellent.”
“You better hurry,” Eva said with a small stumble of her own. She had her eyes shut and her face in a grimace. “I can feel my wards unraveling. It isn’t pleasant.”
