Nel held it out in front of her. She didn’t want to expose herself to the vile stench, so she didn’t even try to open it–not that the devil had told her how it opened. Concentrating on the contents, Nel sought out its past and present.
A deep drain had her sagging in her seat almost immediately. It felt like she was looking farther into Hell, like when she had found the two children.
Except worse.
Wherever she was looking, it was far away.
Through the haze of her sudden headache, a picture started to form.
Something akin to a planet. From far away, it actually looked beautiful. The air was crisp and clear. Greenery everywhere. And everything on the planet’s surface was in a state of constant motion. There was a slight tinge of purple to everything, but that hardly stood out with everything else going on.
But when Nel zoomed in, she found her stomach churning.
There were plants, animals,
Ones on the surface pranced around, treading on those beneath. More creatures exploded out of nowhere, landing on and crushing those too slow to get out of the way.
One particularly nasty set of animated teeth descended on a cat-like creature.
The cat didn’t stand a chance. It was torn to shreds.
Yet it didn’t die.
Despite not having a head or an upper back, the cat’s body sprinted away from the predator. As it ran, it started regrowing the missing parts.
A second cat, identical to the first, clawed its way out of the maw of the animated teeth after a few moments.
Nel’s sight went dark as she slumped over the altar. Maintaining that connection exhausted her. Yet despite her exhaustion, Nel had been unable to look away. It was a disgusting sight and horrifically enticing at the same time.
With shaky hands, Nel plucked the brass sphere out of the air. Taking great care not to jolt or otherwise disturb any part of it, she placed it within the safe that she used to store some of the more valuable fetters–Sawyer’s blood was among the residents. Once the sphere was in place, she shut the door, sealed it shut, and pulled out her gem focus.
Using every bit of her admittedly limited magical knowhow, Nel erected as many wards and defenses around the safe as she could fit. The air around it hummed with volatile magic from the somewhat conflicting wards she had laid around the safe. Anyone trying to unravel the wards would probably set off a chain-reaction detonating the leftover magic. That included herself.
Warding had never been Nel’s strong point.
But it would work. She couldn’t imagine anyone that both had access to Ylva’s domain and would want to steal her fetters, but she felt it all the more prudent to keep that sphere safe.
Lady Ylva would be able to undo it all with a thought should it ever need to be looked at again.
Nel desperately hoped that need never came about.
It took a moment to steady herself on her feet. Once she did, Nel headed straight for the kitchen. She moved past the main area and all its food and drink without a second glance.
After seeing the things she had seen, Nel felt she needed something a little stronger than water or juices of various types.
Nel removed the cork from a bottle of who-knew-what and proceeded to down a full half of the liquid. Her throat burned and some mild hiccups started, but Nel ignored it all.
“When are you coming back, Lady Ylva?”
The moment the words left her mouth, the ground started to quake.
Trouble in Prison Town
“They thought I had lied to them. Led them into a trap.”
Shalise started at the anger in Sister Cross’ words. “So they threw you into prison?”
Lynn shook her head. “After the public relations disaster with the riot involving my chapter, my augur disappearing, and the failure of the inquisitorial squad after being briefed by me, they stripped me of command.
“Leading them into a trap was just an excuse to dispose of me. I warned them about the devil-class demon and his involvement in Sister Stirling–in the augur’s disappearance. When this ‘Lady Ylva’ stepped in–whom I knew nothing about, I might add–they used my lack of briefing them about her to toss me into the cathedral’s dungeon.”
“But you escaped.”
“I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Lynn said with a sad smile. Her smile vanished as she threw a glance around the alternate women’s ward common room.
It didn’t matter how much Shalise insisted that Eva hadn’t hurt her. Even mentioning that Eva had
