Page 193

The walk through the capital was eerie, to say the least. I had just been through this part of town earlier but now it was deserted. It wasn't even sunset yet but most of the people that had been out on the streets were confined to their homes and only guards were patrolling the streets. There were some clues as to how the riot had gone based on the patches of blood on the stone walkways that hadn't been cleaned up yet.

I turned to the guard who was escorting the three of us to the guard captain's office. "Were there a lot of people killed in the riot?"

He glanced at me and shrugged. "I'm not sure, I know that a few citizens and rioters were killed but no one from the guard has died as far as I'm aware. I'm not sure about the paladins or priests from the Tamin church though, some of them were targeted in the chaos."

I nodded and we returned to silence. The situation didn't really call for levity or more questions. The town had been completely shut down and the quiet was infectious. Even the other guards and soldiers we passed by didn't speak much as they patrolled the streets. Some of them were leading people back to their homes or cleaning up some of the damage from the riot.

Looking over at Talis, I was a little confused as to why he was joining us. I was aware that he had been the one to inform the guard captain that we were in the Great Library but I had assumed he would return there once we met up with the guard that was escorting us. I wondered if there was more to him joining us than that.

I assumed that Sir Noreth wanted me to help with the demon problem considering they had discovered it was the cult of Amphores behind the collar suppression in the city, though I'm not entirely sure about that. I was still a little unsure what they needed from me in particular, the Tamin church probably knows significantly more about them than I do. All I knew about them was what Nathaniel in Goldenhearth had told me in his letter and the things I discovered from the ledgers, all things I'm sure were already shared with him.

Near the eastern gates of the city, we were being led toward a large unmarked building made of the same utilitarian shaped stone most of the walls were built from. The building was notable for its size and nothing else, it didn't even have any markings, flags, or signs. Something about the building gave me the creeps but I didn't really know why.

"Are you alright, Lilith?" Silva whispered to me. I looked over at her, she looked calm and collected. She stood tall and her large rabbit ears flicked and turned to nearby sounds but her eyes were focused entirely on me.

"Nervous," I replied.

"It will be alright. I'll protect you if anything happens." She turned back ahead toward the building as we got closer. The confidence and reliability with which she spoke those words made my gut twist in guilt. I was conflicted with her, I had only brought her with me because I didn't trust her, but here she was confidently saying that she would protect me without any hesitation.

The guard opened the door and let the three of us through before following us in after. The building looked empty right now, the only signs that anyone was here at all were the quiet voices I could hear through the door to the left of the empty reception desk.

"Do not speak until you're addressed. Sir Noreth is an impatient man and our guest is... well... you'll see. Leave your weapons here on the table." I nodded and undid my belt before placing my sword on the table next to Silva's spear and Talis's pair of thin sabers.

After he did a quick inspection of our armor and gear he opened the door and we walked into what looked like a long dining room without the table. The room was dark, only lit by a handful of candles since the building had no windows. There were five men, all human, three were normal looking human guards, a tall man wearing full plate mail stood near the end of the room and a young man with blond hair and fine looking clothes was seated on a chair next to him. The guard that escorted us closed the door behind us and stood to the side of it.

The man in plate mail, presumably the guard captain, stepped forward. "Kneel before the King of Torlimal."

My eyebrows rose and I followed the other two after a moment of hesitation, kneeling on one knee facing the end of the room.

The young king scoffed and waved at us. "Rise. We don't have time for this. Just get on with it Noreth."

Sir Noreth frowned slightly but nodded deferentially. "Yes, Your Highness." The guard captain waited for us to get back to our feet before starting. "We were informed not long ago that you were involved in uncovering information related to the cult of Amphores. We have reason to believe they are attempting to rally a rebellion right here in the Capital. You are ordered to tell us anything you know about them so that we may better hunt them down."

The King interrupted right before I was about to speak, "Noreth, you didn't tell me the specialists that came to our city yesterday were animals. Why do you think these beastkin are any more likely to track them down than the the Tamin church is? Why waste the effort of asking them to use their heads when all animals are good for is beating people up with their fists?" He scoffed. "Women too, what a waste of time."

Sir Noreth turned his back to us and faced the King. "Your Highness, with all due respect. Women and beasts or not, they are specialists, recognized by the gods as demon hunters. Please allow me to—"

"Hey, Animal! What are you doing?" One of the guards suddenly yelled.

I turned to Silva just in time to see her steel collar turning to slag. Electricity poured from her hand where it met the melting collar, her teeth were clenched and molten metal dripped down her neck. The light of the magic suddenly flashed bright enough to blind me and send me stumbling back as a loud crack of electricity deafened me.

Before I could recover I was shoved to the ground and could only raise my arms in front of me as I tried to blink the spots out of my eyes. My sight came back before my hearing did. I was still disoriented but I could tell Silva was on the other side of the room with the King of Torlimal pinned to the wall with a spear made out of crackling electricity. The side of Sir Noreth's skull was caved in and he was slumped against the wall, dead.

Next to me, Talis was defending me from one of the guards. The original guard that had called out to Silva had already been killed and the remaining guards were running at her. Talis was unarmed but he was skillfully deflecting the guard's sword strikes with the metal parts of his gauntlets, he wasn't able to strike back effectively but he defended himself with surprising ease. Silva spun, letting the crackling lightning spear disappear and drop the King's limp body to the ground as she turned to face the approaching guards. With an insanely quick movement, she dodged the first guard's slash, ducked into his guard, and punched him so hard his body fell to the ground despite his armor.

After Talis blocked another attack I activated [Coin Flip] which thankfully went off and knocked the guard he was fighting on his ass, the spell was powerful at close range. Talis jumped on the man, took his fallen sword, and immediately slashed the guard's throat with it. The sudden brutality Talis showed was surprising. I managed to scrabble to my feet just as Silva finished off the last guard and turned to face us. She was also holding a sword now, having just killed the guard holding it. The only ones left in the room were the three of us.

Silva's neck had painful looking burns and marks on her chest where the metal from her collar had dripped onto her, the knuckles of her right fist were bloody and she was staring at the two of us with a cold and confident glare. The king was dead, his body was slumped over on the ground, his lifeless eyes stared into the void. He had a burn mark pierced through his heart the size of a half dollar. There was no blood, the electricity of her spear had cauterized the wound and killed him near instantly.

Talis was the first to speak. "I received a quest from my Goddess to protect Lilith just now. Now that all of the guards are dead I'm curious whether or not I'm meant to protect her from you as well."

Her eyes left Tails and looked at me. "I would never hurt Lilith. Whether she is my mistress or not. I told her before we entered this room that I would protect her and I still will as long as she wishes me to." Her eyes flicked back to Talis. "We were told that no one else knew of this meeting. How much time do you think we have before others come looking for the King or for Sir Noreth?"

Talis's grip tightened on his sword. "How am I supposed to trust you at your word? I just watched you rip your slave collar off and kill a king! Even if this meeting were secret you just put all of us at tremendous risk!"

Silva's eyes met mine again. "That's a risk that I believe Lilith and I are willing to take to free our lovers from slavery. I wouldn't do it if I thought we couldn't get away with it though. This isn't the first noble I've killed and I suspect it won't be my last."

I gulped. The young king of Torlimal is dead and he had no heirs. That means his bloodline has ended too. Does that mean Morrigan and Torien's collars are already gone?

"You cannot trust this woman. She left you to die when her attack blinded you. Her collar must have been suppressed, she must be in league with Amphores," Talis said.

Silva's eyes looked back at Talis. "I told you before this, I serve Lilith of my own will. I've been able to remove my collar this entire time but I chose to accompany her and watch over her." She looked back at me and smiled. "Who else was going to keep this fledgling demon hunter from getting herself killed?"

The man's grip tightened on his sword again. He looked like he could attack her at any moment. "Swear it," he spat out. "Sorsette is watching us right now, I know it. Swear on her name that you wish Lilith Baphomet no harm."

Silva relaxed her posture a little, letting her sword down. "I swear on Sorsette's name that I have no intention to harm Lilith Baphomet, now or ever."

In the center of the room a pulse of magic identical to the [Zone of Truth] passed through the three of us. Truth. As if a switch had been flipped Talis completely turned around. "We need to hurry. I'm not sure how long it will take to escape here without anyone noticing." He began to pull off his purple robes indicating his relationship with Sorsette and stole one of the guard's surcoats to disguise himself with.

Silva relaxed and tossed the sword to the ground in front of her, leaving her unarmed. Well, as unarmed as she could be. It seems the fighter has had hidden electricity magic up her sleeve this entire time. She kept her trump card secret, wearing her slave collar as some kind of disguise. I knew it was real, I remember how it looked the first time I had given her an order and when she had been transferred to me. But it felt fake after finding out she could have removed it all of this time. I didn't know whether to be happy my friend was free from slavery or scared of her now.

"Before we go," I rasped. "How much of what you've told me is a lie? Was the story about your parents a lie? Something to tug at my heartstrings and manipulate me?"

Silva frowned. "I don't think I've told you many lies, I mostly just withheld some details." She shifted her weight. "All of the stuff that happened with my parents was real. It was why I started training in the first place. It just wasn't the noble I told you it was."

I shook my head. "Who are you? I heard you talking with Lorriene this morning, I didn't catch all of it but I know you've been keeping things from me. I'm missing something, how do you two know each other?"

She sighed. "You heard some of that huh? Probably not the most important bits then, otherwise we probably would have had this conversation sooner." Silva crossed her arms and took a breath. "I'm an assassin, Lilith. I've trained since I left my dead family's farm to infiltrate and kill targets for The Order of Lilith."