Page 129 of Paladin's Faith

“You haven’t even heard me out,” Wisdom said mildly, leaning against the table and folding its arms.

“What are you going to offer me?” asked Shane, his lip curling. “Offer to heal my soul? Give me everything I want?”

“No,” said the demon, surprising him. “I can’t heal you, paladin. All I can do is make the wounds not matter anymore. And I doubt you’d believe me if I offered you everything you wanted, would you?”

Shane grunted. The demon was right, but he didn’t wish to admit it.

Wisdom’s lips twisted up in a smile. “What can I offer you, paladin? How about the lives of your friends?”

His head jerked up. He tried to control the reaction, too late. It’s a trick. It’s a trap.

“No trick,” Wisdom said. Whether it read his thoughts or simply guessed, he didn’t know. “Your friends are of no use to me as worshippers, and I rather doubt I could hire your little paladin friend with gold. Agree to stay with me, and I will let them go. Free and clear.” It spread its hands, the picture of reason.

“And if I say no?”

“Then I’ll try again with the other member of your order, though I hold out less hope for her. And if—when—that fails, then perhaps I will consider that it may be time for a new host. This one is beginning to falter, I am afraid. She lasted a very long time, but the consumption that I have been keeping at bay is beginning to tax my strength.” Wisdom examined its nails, the very picture of humanity. “You seem a fine, healthy specimen. I doubt much of your skill with a sword will be available to me—not after I am forced to shatter your mind—but your body is strong enough to last for years, with careful handling. But of course, I’ll have no choice but to kill the others to keep my disguise intact.”

Shane swallowed hard.

“Mmm. That might be the best plan after all. With a face like yours, I imagine I could attract a great many worshippers in short order.” The demon ran its hands through its host’s hair. “Although I must say that I have always preferred to live within women’s bodies. I find them more congenial. No, no, not for any perverse reason!” It grinned at his expression. “No, honestly, it’s your bodily functions. It takes a male host so much longer to urinate, and it’s already fairly disgusting to endure.”

From the face it made, Shane suspected that the demon was telling the exact truth. This was not a comfort.

“Mmm. A handsome face, or a more congenial host…” It made a weighing gesture. “The little paladin is strong, too, and I sense that she could endure a great deal…”

“No,” rasped Shane, horrified by the prospect of Wren’s soul ripped apart by a demon. Kinder by far to put a knife to her throat.

And your hand may be the one holding the knife, if the demon takes possession of you.

Wisdom folded its arms. “Their lives—or deaths—are up to you, paladin. With a champion, I need not exhaust myself defending my flock from those who besiege us. In that case, I could keep this body together for quite a bit longer, I expect.”

He would be here. His soul, very likely, would be damned for eternity. But if the demon was true to its word, then Wren and Marguerite would escape, and they could get to a temple of the Dreaming God and warn them exactly what horror lurked in these hills.

My soul is worth little enough, but if there is a chance to stop this…

“How do I know you’ll keep your word?” he said, and saw triumph flash across Wisdom’s face.

“How do I know you’ll keep yours?” it countered.

“I’m a paladin. You’re a demon.”

“Yes, and one of those two is known for dramatic acts of self-sacrifice.” It frowned. “Perhaps I should keep one of your friends as a hostage, just in case.”

“No. You let them all go, or there is no deal.”

“And what keeps you from falling on your sword the moment they’re safely away?”

Shane folded his arms in a mirror of the demon. “If you cannot convince your paladins to stay in your service, how do you expect to succeed as a god?”

“Ha!” Wisdom barked a laugh. “Well struck, paladin. Very well! But you must give me a chance to prove myself before you fling yourself from the battlements, yes?”

Shane hesitated. “I will need proof of their safety.”

Wisdom sighed. “Very well. You, and none other, shall accompany them to the river that borders my lands. You may watch them go for as long as you like, to make certain that none of my men take potshots at them. You may even lock my fighting men in the prison cells below, if that will set your mind at ease. But you become my champion now. Tonight. I want you on my chain, paladin, before I risk letting you off the lead.”

It was a monstrous bargain. A true paladin would never have made it, but he was not a true paladin any longer.

Perhaps he never had been. Perhaps, as it said, he had only ever been a dog on someone’s chain.