The Good Sister

"It's a disgrace, lord!" Growled one of the beast men, as I shoved him back down the stairs.

"The second level is blessed by the beast lord. It's only right you defend it." They were angry the orcs would be getting the first crack at the alchemist.

Bloody fools.

Who wanted to be the first one into a battle?

They growled, but held their tongues and I made my way to the cathedral. There is where the rest of my troops waited in ambush. I would meet Celeste with overwhelming ****. Melli me and Ruby would wait in ambush in the western chamber, while the orcs and goblins waited to ambush from the prison. The clockwork soilders, the ogre and the shade of the vampire would all take on Celeste at once. These were my strongest tools many of them immune to poisons, or other tricks an alchemist could use. Even an ogre could withstand a much higher dose of poison than a normal man. The clockwork soldiers could break through her skin, and the vampire could hypnotize her with a look. Each on their own may not have been a threat to her, but together she would fall.

Probably.

If not we would retreat to the second floor for healing and reinforcements.

Everyone was still getting set up when I heard the sound of sniffing echo through the cave.

I froze almost instantly, the sound of my own **** played vividly through my nervous system.

"Boss?" Cyrus looked over at me, concern on his face. "What's..."

Before he could ask, a bat or some sort of creature fell from the air, and landed on one of the goblins. Half a second later, there was an explosion and the goblin was gone. All that remained were giblets and smoke.

Not again!

"We're under attack!" Cyrus called out and pointed upwards.

A swarm of the things, flying humonculi flapped into view.

"No..." I gasped, taking a fearful step back. There wouldn't be any coming back for me now. Steelowyn would rip me to shreds for all eternity.

"Ice Sickles!" Ruby stepped forward and waved her staff. An impressive spray of of razor sharp disks flew through the air powered by her magic and my own. Dozens of the blades swept through the air and ripped the bats to shreds.

"Fire and Ash!" Melli waved her own staff, and joined in the counter attack. A ball of molten debris then flew into the sky and exploded taking who knows how many of the bats with it. Our cloaks flapped in the hot wind of the explosion.

We all stood in silence, as smoke and ash filled the cave, hoping our mages had won the first engagement.

The tiny forms began diving from the cloud of smoke, and latching onto us. Three fell upon goblins, and blew them to bits in an instant. Another one got the male orc in the side and blew him off his feet, but he seemed to be okay, other than all the blood. He crawled towards a wall. Another came for his companion but she chopped it out of the air with an axe and roared, taking swing after swing at the empty air.

"Fuck." I backed away further, the explosions ringing in my ear.

Melli and Ruby looked on helplessly. Now that the bats were among our numbers their attacks were useless.

I saw a bat swoop down onto Cyrus. My heart jumped a beat, but he vanished just before it made contact. Mox's shield had saved him. The bat hit the floor and flapped ackwardly to try to take flight again and claim another life.

Three more of the bats landed on our ogre and exploded taking chunks out of him, but he managed to survive. Only in pain and confusion he swung his club wildly, hitting the limping orc in the back and breaking him in half. He thudded aginst the wall grotesquely and grew still.

Fear fully taking me I ran to the prison, and threw the door open. "Fall back!" I said, gesturing for the others to join me.

The ogre was flailing fully now, knocking a few bats away. The goblins were happy to get away from that mess and rushed to join me. Melli too jumped inside not long after me. "What are those things?" She gasped breathlessly.

Ruby rushed towards us, but before she could get far a bat landed squarley on her face. I saw with awful, vivid percision the creature fuse to her face. She clawed at it for several **** seconds before an explosion clouded them both. When the smoke cleared her body was falling to the ground, never to move again.

"No!" I cried out, and reached to help her, but the goblins were pulling the door shut. Just in time too there was another explosion just moments later right out side the door. But I was shaking too much to appreciate that.

Melli retched a few feet behind me, I'm guessing she saw it too. "No way... no way." She mumbled her voice thick and liquidy.

"What happened?" Ruby's voice asked?

Melli and I looked up excitedly, but instead saw her sister, hanging from the prison walls' shackled.

Oh right.

"There was..." Melli started, but couldn't say more.

"Where's Cyrus?" I asked looking at the green faces beneath me. "Where's Cyrus?"

"He's not here boss!" One of the goblins chirped.

"What?" No no no no no no, not Cyrus. I stepped towards the door but they jumped at my legs, and pulled back on my robes.

"You can't go out there boss!"

"Yeah!" gulped another. "You'll die! Real explodey like!"

"Where's my sister?" Sapphire's voice caught my attention again.

"She..." Melli began again, but still couldn't go on. She just sobbed, and pressed her head against the wall.

"No..." Sapphire gasped.

I turned around to face her. "She just..." Oh damn, maybe I wouldn't be able to finish. "She was just running to us, and... Celeste got her."

"Got her?" Sapphire screeched. "What do you mean, got her?"

"She exploded alright?" I cried back. "Her body's there but the head is gone! I've never seen anything like it before, okay?"

"No!" Sapphire cried out, and trashed in her chains. I'd never heard a cry like that before. No maybe I had, from my own family. Back with Dorothy killed my Grandmother. I think that's what we sounded like. A shriek of pure pain, almost like a wound. You don't **** it, but it forces it's way out of you. You scream and you scream until your voice is bloody. "This is your fault!" She kicked at me, though I was too far for it to matter. "This is your fault! We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you! You did this!"

Oh, that made me angry.

Not because it was a lie, or unfair, but because it was true.

I'd promised Ruby power, and now she was dead. That made me a liar. Right now her soul was going to meet Herr'aldeen, no other god would barter for her tainted soul, she'd already flittered it away. A dead god had a claim to it, and to that dead god's domain she would go. Some religions would say that was a good thing. I saved her soul before she died, it's not much comfort when he **** was entirely my doing.

But I wasn't planning on processing those feelings at the moment. "My fault?" I roared, ego bruised, and heart hurting. I was ashamed my own fear caused me to freeze, ashamed it'd gotten Ruby killed, and angry as hell that Sapphire was calling me out for it. "You made the deal too Sapphire. You should have been there! You let her down!"

"Don't you dare!" Sapphire snarled, and thrashed in her bindings. "I'll kill you for this!"

"No you won't." I say, my voice icey.

"Herald..." Melli warned me, but I pushed past her.

I then grabbed Sapphire's robes, and she stopped kicking. "You're going to help us kill the alchemist. Your true foe." In response Sapphire spat on my face. So my response was to rip her robe off. I jerked my body, and sent the thing peeling away with her, long tendrils of thread desperately tried to cling together, but gave up under the brutality of my pull. I released my grip and let the clothing drop and drape over her now mostly exposed body.

She gasped and squirmed, and suddenly didn't sound so fiery. I liked that. "What the hell? What are you..."

I turned away from her and towards the rack of **** instruments. "I think it's time this temple heard a few prayers go out to Steelowyn." I say, picking up a riding crop from the rack.

"Who's that?" Sapphire gulped, and started thrashing again.

"Goddess of pain." I said simply.

"Herald." Melli stepped forward.

"Get back Melli!" I snarled. "Or I'll make you do it, you know I will!"

She instantly shrank at that, and was gently pulled back by a few quivering goblins.

"Okay." Sapphire said shakily. "Maybe I was a little..."

I let the crop fly. It struck her across the thigh and elicited a wonderful yelp.

"Okay!" She hissed. "I'm sorry I, ouch!" I silenced with another smack against her other thigh. "I said, oww!"

I kept going. All thoughts of Celeste marching down my dungeon faded as I worked on the witch. Maybe today would end in failure, and all our deaths. It certainly seemed like it would now.

But this one thing I would win.

——-

You may have noticed there was only one chapter last week. October has been really busy, and I may only get one chapter out each week. We’ll see, but set expectations low.