“But we check anyway.” He leaned forward, gazing deeply into her eyes. “Oh, dear…”
“What?”
“I fear that you have remarkably lovely eyes.”
She snorted. “How unchivalrous of you, sir. You’re injured, so I can’t smack you for that.”
He grinned, clearly unrepentant. Ramsey approached, clambered over the fence, and checked his partner’s eyes. “This man is a shameless flirt,” Marguerite informed the priest.
“Dreadful, I know. If he’s bothering you, tell me, and I’ll inform the nuns when we return to the temple.”
“Oh god, not the nuns!” Sir Xavier put his good arm over his face. “I shall be as humble and silent as a novice. Anything but nuns.”
Wren and Shane joined them. Ramsey cocked an eye approvingly at them. “That was good work, you two.”
“And you said you couldn’t use the imperative mode,” said Xavier, slapping Shane on the back with his good hand. Shane didn’t quite stagger, but it was clearly a near thing.
“I can’t,” he said. “Not truly.”
“It knelt, didn’t it?”
“But it tried immediately to get back up again.” Shane shook his head. “A few seconds, that’s all.”
“Sometimes a few seconds is enough.”
Shane sighed. “My heart is not pure enough,” he said simply. “The god was right not to choose me.”
Ramsey and the Dreaming God’s paladin exchanged a look.
Not pure enough? If Shane’s not pure enough, how do the regular paladins even function?
Apparently Sir Xavier agreed with her, because she heard him mutter, “You’re a damn sight more pure of heart than I am, youngster,” not entirely under his breath.
“All right,” said Ramsey, shaking his head. “We’ve kept you long enough, friends. We’ll see you back to the river, though.”
They collected the horses, although Wren looked at hers as if she would prefer fighting possessed livestock to mounting again. Marguerite glanced at the position of the sun, decided that they hadn’t lost a significant amount of time, and tapped the reins across her mount’s neck. “All right. Let’s get a move on, before we trip over another part of the world that needs saving.”
TEN
FOSTER TOOK the horses and bid them a good journey, then rode away, whistling tunelessly between his teeth. Marguerite, Shane, and Wren waited by the dock for their ride upriver to finish loading supplies. Shane was still keyed up from the fight with the demon, but he suspected that the adrenaline would wear off soon.
They had done well. Even the little voice nagging him that he should have been able to make the demon kneel longer couldn’t quite drown that out. There was one less demon in the world, and that was an unalloyed good thing.
Yes, but it certainly doesn’t make up for all the terrible—
Shut up, Shane told it wearily. I promise I won’t develop any self-confidence while your back is turned.
“A word in your ear, before you go,” said Ramsey. The priest and the paladin had accompanied them to the dock, leading their own horses. “Might not be useful, but then again, it might.”
“I’d never turn down a good word,” said Marguerite, pushing herself up onto a crate. Her legs dangled girlishly, but no one would ever mistake her for anything but a grown woman. Her shirt was modestly cut, but modest in her case still revealed a significant expanse of flesh. Shane averted his eyes. He had found a shrine in the town to the Four-Faced God, and offered up prayers last night, but he had not been comfortable leaving his companions for long. Wren was more than capable of standing up to most threats, but if she had to face them alone, the guilt would have eaten him alive.
Vigil on my knees at the next available opportunity. Whenever that may be.
“I don’t know where you’re going, other than upriver,” said the priest. “And I don’t want to know.
I’m not asking, and I’d rather you didn’t tell me. I smell secrecy on all three of you.”
Shane glanced back at Marguerite, who smiled guilelessly. “Secrecy? I don’t know what you mean.”
“Of course you don’t,” said Ramsey.
For some reason, her response disappointed Shane. It would have cost nothing to admit that they were traveling with a purpose in mind, but she was lying to a priest out of…what? Out of reflex?
What a terrible reflex to have—No. No, you are on a clandestine mission, and she is in command.
And she knows more of this than you do. You have no right to judge.
“But if you happened to be going into the highlands to the north,” said the priest, “which, the Dreaming God keep you, you will not, be warned.” His eyes caught Shane’s. “There are rumors of a demon out there with human accomplices. An old and subtle one.”
Shane’s blood ran cold. Most demons were young and stupid and did not know how the world worked. You could spot them easily. They moved wrong, they spoke in demonic tongues, they had a tendency to levitate. They did not understand hunger, so they ate dirt and stones, and they did not understand pain, so they broke their own limbs and barely noticed. But the ones that lived long enough to learn better, the smart ones, the old ones…those became much harder to spot. And if a human worked with one willingly…well. They could see a paladin coming from a mile off and sink into their human host, hiding behind human eyes. Those were the temple’s worst nightmare.
“What sort of rumors?” he asked, through dry lips.
“The kind that get through when a demon’s too smart to leave an obvious trail.” Sir Xavier rubbed absently at his injured arm. “It’s not doing anything obvious. No grisly murders. No unholy miracles.
Lots of little cults pop up in the wilds, whenever someone charismatic enough comes along and promises people a better life following orders. We don’t assume all of them are demons.”
“But you think this might be?” asked Marguerite.
“A view not shared by my superiors.” Ramsey grimaced. “The Temple says we don’t have enough evidence to go haring off into the wilds looking. We’re spread too thin already. Ever since whatever was keeping demons free of Anuket City stopped working, they’ve been coming through fast and furious. And we don’t have your brethren to call on any more—sorry, you two—so it’s all the Forge God’s people now, and most of their smiths aren’t warriors.”
Shane bowed his head. It was an old, old pain, long scarred over, but like many old wounds, it still ached, even though he knew that Ramsey’s comments weren’t directed at him. In another life, where he had been worthy of the Dreaming God, he would have been in Anuket City himself, binding demons before they could do harm.
“Keep an eye out,” said Ramsey. “It may be nothing. I hope to the God it’s nothing. But if you find yourself out that way…” He trailed off.
“And now we should take our leave,” said Sir Xavier. “Since I believe that they are about to begin loading your trunks, and my arm won’t let me assist with that.” He saluted Shane and Wren, then bowed over Marguerite’s hand and kissed each knuckle with maximum dramatic effect.