Chapter 178: Hole in the Wall

Seyari felt the castle shake. Without hesitation, she changed course toward it and sped up, wishing her wings could open in the cramped hallway.

This is bad. We’ve been compromised.

Already, she’d passed several corpses; faces that she’d begun to grow familiar with.

Seyari was relatively certain there’d been no spy—at least none who could report easily. But this kind of quiet efficiency spoke of either Envy or Lust demons, and Seyari didn’t think Lillith was behind this.

Just because she didn’t trust her didn’t mean she’d do this. Besides, it was sloppy, in a sense. For all they’d been caught off guard, the enemy hadn’t gone for the head. She and Renna didn’t need an army to strike back, and all this death would only push Renna into more decisive action.

Really, Seyari couldn’t understand why. This plan reeked of Mordwell and Envy both, but it lacked finesse. Mordwell had to know that Seyari was present.

Or did he?

Crimson feathers flashed by the edges of her vision. She wasn’t really the same Seyari anymore, in all the best ways. Perhaps whatever tracking magic Mordwell was using had lost its attunement.

If that were the case, and with Renna out of the city…

Understanding dawned in Seyari’s mind right as she heard a woman shrieking bloody murder. Though… it didn’t sound like the sort of primal pain that preceded death. It echoed down the old stone halls, but Seyari’s sharp hearing could pick it out of the wind: the temporary hospital ward.

One more turn and Seyari practically threw herself into the room, hoping that Joisse was alright above all else. Inside the dust was clearing, and the air smelt of fresh mortar and burned flesh. Through a big hole in the wall, starlight filtered into the room.

Movement in the dust, on the beds, gave Seyari hope. Patients, not enemies. But where’s Joisse?

“Mom Sey!” her daughter shouted, nearby.

“Joisse! Are you alright! What on Varra happened?” With a flap and a little wind magic, Seyari blew a column of dust away into clear air.

Before her, seemingly stunned from the blast, was a pale, blue-skinned demon-blooded woman in a familiar russet dress, sitting up on a bed. Next to her, Joisse was caught, half-looking her way, half out the person-sized hole in the wall.

Seyari blinked and realized the woman, small horns and all, was the poisoned noble Renna had brought for treatment. Joisse was able to heal her!

With Joisse frozen, the woman answered, voice wavering. “T-that’s precisely what I want to know! Where am I? What have you done to me?” Her tone somehow managed to be imperious despite the situation.

Seyari blinked, and took a steadying breath. “You’re in Astrye. My wife, Marchioness Zarenna Miller, brought you here after you were poisoned, and our daughter healed you.”

“Astrye?” She glanced out the hole in the wall, the mountains clearly visible. “But… how?” She looked down at her hands, now sporting black nails. “I demand you tell me what’s going on!”

Seyari fought down a bitter reply, and instead looked at the fresh hole in the wall. It looked like an immense cannon, bigger even than those on the Lady of Liseu, had shot through it.

The noble woman followed her eyes, her own growing wide as her mouth dropped open.

Footsteps sounded rapidly down the hall toward them. Joisse tensed, and froze, her hands partway up as if unsure what to do with them. Pulling in her wings, Seyari whirled around, assisted by her magic. She prepared a blade of wind at neck level, holding a lance of holy light at the ready for a follow up.

Instead of a demon, the person who ran in was the paladin tagalong Renna had picked up. Seyari had nearly forgotten him in the shuffle. His armor was scored with cuts and spattered lightly with blood, and the sword in his hand glowed with holy light.

“Our side or theirs?” Seyari barked.

The paladin pulled up to stop short, eyes glancing only briefly from Seyari to take in the room. He took a moment to think, and Seyari edged forward.

“I’m not fighting you,” he finally said. “I heard a commotion, and engaged with lesser demons on my way down. The trail of… bodies led here.”

“Bodies…” the noble woman murmured.

“Good,” Seyari said.

The paladin’s brow furrowed. “Those demons aren’t…”

“Absolutely not!” Seyari clenched her fists before she remembered to dismiss her prepared magic. “This is an attack by Mordwell and Envy.”

“Mordwell?”

“Yes, that Mordwell; the leader of the inquisition. Have you not heard that he’s gone rogue, consorting with demons?” There was so much more Seyari wanted to say, but she held her tongue.

The paladin sheathed his sword, but he kept his hand on the handle. “I’ll save my questions for later then. Was whatever killed its way here stopped?”

Seyari looked once again out the window, but it was Joisse that spoke. “She was, yeah. I dunno if I killed her, but she’s gone.”

“Please…” the noble woman said, exasperated. “What is going on? Paladin Warren, you must have some idea?”

The paladin, Warren Seyari supposed, surprised her by looking her way. Seyari shrugged with a slightly fanged smile. She had to admit, the odd look on Paladin Warren’s face was worth imitating her wife.

Gods, I can see why Zarenna smiles like this so often.

“You…”

“Me.” Oh gods, I must’ve hit my head to act like this. Seyari schooled her face into its normal expression. “Have you never seen an angel of Wrath before?” Despite making the name up on the spot, it seemed right.

The paladin opened his mouth, but was interrupted.

“Paladin Warren! Please! I woke up in a bed in a border territory having been turned into a freak—I am not going to sit here while you play games with that half-angel.” Her tone was acerbic, her face twisted. “She’s probably just demon-corrupted.”

Seyari snorted. “Lady, if only you knew the truth.”

“Lady? You will address me as Duchess Arina Kapel.”

“I don’t have time for this,” Seyari huffed. “I’m going to sweep the castle; Joisse, keep an eye on these two and the patients.” She strode past the paladin, buffeting him with one crimson wing, and paused at the door. “I suppose you can call me Marchioness Seyari Miller, Your Ladyship.”

She tuned out the conversation that sprang up as she left, walk turning into a jog turning into a sprint.

***

For a moment, their little group and all the patients who were looking on anxiously were quiet. Panicked whispers started to grow, but Paladin Warren was too buried in his own thoughts to think of what to do.

Fortunately, the girl, Joisse spoke up, her soft voice carrying in the room. “Please… stay calm. My mothers will keep us safe, and if anything sneaks by, the paladin and I should be able to handle it.”

The paladin in question looked around numbly, before nodding. It wouldn’t do to lose his head in what could easily become a battlefield.

“Your mothers?” the duchess asked.

Joisse nodded. “Mom Renna and Mom Sey. I guess I should introduce myself; I’m Joisse Miller. I don’t know how Mom Renna’s title works for me, so I don’t know if it counts for much.”

Their daughter, Paladin Warren thought, I can see some resemblance—wait. A dawning, creeping sort of horror worked up Gareth Warren’s spine.

Duchess Kapel sat up straighter and narrowed her eyes at the girl. “You were the one who healed me.”

Joisse nodded. “Yes.”

“So it’s your fault—your family’s fault. You corrupted and abducted me!” The duchess’s voice was dangerously level, even as her gloved hands shook. “Paladin Warren!”

Gareth jolted out of his thoughts before he could reach their conclusion. “Duchess Kapel, we may be in danger—”

“Of course we are! Do you think they will stop at this?”

“I…” Gareth paused to think. What would he say; would he really defend that demon? With his mind focused for a fight, the answer seemed obvious. At no time had Marchioness Miller or her ilk threatened him. “Did Lady Joisse not save you moments ago?”

“Allegedly!”

Gareth’s eyes met Joisse’s as he turned to look again at the hole, his arm coming up to point. “Hole in the wall.”

“Strength does not exclude subtle games, Paladin.”

Paladin Warren shook his head. “No. Why would they do that, why would they kill their own people in the hallway, if this were not real. Duchess, I know this all seems impossible, believe me, but I think we ought to give them a chance, at least help them out against hostile demons.”

“Hostile demons?”

Oh no, Gareth thought, I messed up. Of course Duchess Kapel didn’t know what Marchioness Miller was. Or—he looked down at Joisse Miller—what her daughter was. No angelic traits, no demonic traits. The human-seeming girl in front of them was anything but.

How had she healed the duchess, then? Marchioness Seyari had no reason to lie if she’d done it, and she couldn’t have. I know she wasn’t in the castle, and I saw her trying earlier. This is too elaborate to be a farce, too airtight.

As his mind was whirling, Joisse spoke up again.

“Yes, hostile demons. A-and the poison in you was already changing you.”

Paladin Warren felt, oddly, like that wasn’t the whole truth. But if she was a demon, it would make sense. “She’s right, Duchess. Before we left Norgath, there were already horns pushing up through your skin.”

Indignation flashed across the duchess’s face before she took a deep breath. “If that is the case, Paladin Warren, I insist you make your full report available to my estate.”

“I… that can be arranged."

The duchess pointed at both of them. "Though I can’t say I feel safe protected by a child with supposedly-powerful magic and a paladin who failed to stop my poisoning.”

Gareth swallowed a biting retort.

“I’m stronger than I look,” Joisse said. “I think I could do what made that hole in the wall again without passing out.”

“You have similar magical capacity to your mother, then. Or, one of your mothers, I suppose. I won’t pry, but you do look a bit like the marchioness.”

Joisse looked away, but blushed. “It’s… complicated.” Part-way through raising her head, it snapped toward the door so fast Paladin Warren wondered how the young girl’s neck didn’t pop.

If anything, that confirmed what she was for him. His hand went to his sword, but rather than on the demon in disguise, he focused toward the door.

Joisse launched forward, arm blurring red. A howl outside cut off into a gurgling noise, and the girl walked back in not five seconds later, one hand covered in sizzling demon blood. Having just reached the door, Paladin Warren could see outside, and the small, dog-like lesser demon collapsed in the hallway. Aura sight showed it was dead, magic dissipating back into ambience.

The marchioness’s entire family are monsters.

“What are you?” Duchess Kapel practically shrieked behind him.

A small “oh” from Joisse was all Gareth heard in reply before he stepped back into the room. “I was wrong about the marchioness, Duchess. Aside from greater demons of lust, some few of the most powerful demons can hide their aura and manifest human forms that are more than mere glamour. Marchioness Zarenna Miller as well has a resistance to holy magic that I’ve never heard of.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“I am. Marchioness Zarenna Miller is a demon. She flew both of us here, and I saw her true form. Moreover, throughout the insanity of what I can scarcely believe is a single night she has demonstrated empathy, altruism, and compassion without a shred of antagonism toward myself or you. In light of other evidence, and facing other demonic threats like the cooling corpse outside, I am forced to conclude that—at the very least—the marchioness’s faction is fighting another group of demons tonight, and has no desire to kill us at the moment.”

“Or ever!” Joisse added quickly. “Honestly, Mom Sey is meaner than Mom Renna. Unless you try to kill us, you’ve got nothing to fear. Er, from us anyway.”

Duchess Kapel turned her head slowly to Joisse, eyes widening. “You’re not human.”

Joisse nodded.

Gareth frowned. “And you healed her.”

Joisse nodded again, with a wince this time. “I… don’t think this secret’s going to keep like my moms wanted it to.”

“The child of a corrupted half angel and a demon? I didn’t know Marchioness Miller… was capable of that.”

The young certainly-demon’s blush intensified. “It’s complicated. A-and not like that.”

“Show me,” the duchess demanded.

“What?”

“You said you’re a demon. Show me. I feel like I know precious little of what’s truly going on. If you’re not blowing wind, show me.”

“Uh, my clothes… can I just do an arm?”

“What?” both Gareth and Duchess Kapel blurted.

“I’ll just do an arm, and my eyes I guess.”

Before them, Joisse shifted. Like Paladin Warren had glimpsed earlier, one arm enlarged, lengthening past the elbow. Wicked black claws tipped her larger, crimson hand. Her eyes flashed, whites fading to a deep black, and irises glowing to a bright red, complete with vertically-slit pupils.

“See?” she spoke. “It scares the patients, so I don’t always show it, though some here know.”

Sure enough, only a few patients openly gawped at the scene. Next to the paladin, the duchess paled.

“Do something!” she hissed. “Don’t tell me you’re under sway; If she’s anything like the reports I’d heard of a demon in my city, then…”

“Your city?” Joisse asked. “Gedon?”

The duchess didn’t answer her.

“What did the report say?” Gareth asked. “And I’m not going to attack the person who saved your life unprovoked. Especially as I do not know that I would win, and I would certainly risk innocents. After all this, there’s a lot of thinking I’ll need to do.”

The duchess looked between them grimace fading, before she collapsed back onto the pillows. “Fine. I’m a freak now anyway. Gedon is correct, and the report was second-hand as a high priest of the Church denied my request for their report.

“All I know is that two demons fought and destroyed an abandoned church in a troubled part of the city. Rumors also said one of the demons matched some eyewitness accounts of the demon who’d been murdering my people.”

“I see,” Joisse said carefully.

Paladin Warren could pick up that she was nervous, but little else. And he didn’t dare risk working the duchess up again, so he tried to play peacemaker. “We should keep watch. That straggler might not be the only one, and as we saw I’m not as fast as you. If there’s more than one, we’ll need to coordinate.”

Joisse nodded eagerly. “I’ll let you know the moment I hear something.”