The Paladin Caper (17 page)

Loch, Kail, and the elf had
almost
worked their way through the golems in the processing center when the room’s light flickered, and the long table flared with sudden points of crimson radiance.

Westteich and the other nobles had been huddling back there, occasionally attacking but mostly letting the golems do the heavy work, and Loch saw their faces when the items on the table lit up.

“Isafesira de Lochenville,” Westteich called, a broad smile on his face, “you come from a noble line, your little pigment problem notwithstanding.”

Loch chopped a golem’s head off, then cut its arms off, and then kicked it into the same vat of acid that she’d used to kill Arikayurichi. “Your point?”

“It’s only right that you should be here,” Westteich said, “to see the end of the old order. To see the return of the ancients.”

He gestured at the table, and the other nobles in their black jackets each grabbed something from the surface. Loch caught a better look and saw that the nobles held crimson bands of crystal, each about the size of the bracer an archer would wear to protect his forearm while shooting.

“You wondered what Project Paladin was?” Westteich called out as Loch started running, smashing another golem aside as it reached for her and doing a vaulting hip-slide over one of the moving belts. It was too late. The noblemen all rolled up their sleeves, pride on their chiseled faces, and fixed the bands on. “Behold the paladin bands, and behold the paladins who wear them, the bearers of the lords and leaders of this world, returned in glory!”

Every one of the noblemen shuddered as the bands clicked into place, glowing brightly on their arms. Crimson light flared in their eyes for a moment, and then every single one seemed to stand a little straighter.

Loch stumbled to a halt.

“Holy crap, I was right!” Kail called, throwing a golem over his hip with an astonished look on his face.

“Did you think that the ancients would have humble forms like ours?” Westteich taunted. Loch noticed that
he
hadn’t put one of the bands on. “They are creatures of pure thought, energy uncorrupted by mortal weakness! Do you understand now how foolish you have looked, thinking you could
contend
with such power?”

“Damn it,” Irrethelathlialann said, coming to Loch’s side. “We have lost, Isafesira.”

Kail stood on Loch’s other side. “Hey, Ethel, did you see how I was right?”

“That is actually the most frightening part of this entire evening.” Irrethelathlialann lifted his thin wooden blade. “The door leading outside is sealed. Flight is impossible.”

“Nobody’s leaving yet,” Loch said. “Not until we have Dairy.”

“The ancients have returned,” Irrethelathlialann said quietly. “His death was the key to doing so. Even you should be able to follow the logic.”

“Who am I talking to?” Loch asked. Westteich and the other nobles were separated from her group by a few moving belts.

“Handel Westteich,” he called back proudly, “former protector of the Forge of Ancients and—”

“Not
you
.” Loch rolled her eyes. “Which one of you
paladins
is in
charge
?”

The nobles in their long black jackets looked at her curiously.

Then one of them, perhaps a little taller, a little blonder, and a little wealthier-looking than the rest, said, “You may call me Lesaguris. And who am
I
talking to?”

Loch raised her blade. “The woman who’s going to stop you.”

Lesaguris nodded thoughtfully. “Good luck with that.”

He raised his right arm, and a flare of crimson energy slashed out from the paladin band, cracking like a whip as it slammed into Loch and the others.

She had seen him moving and started to dive for cover, and she hit the ground rolling. The left side of her body felt like it had fallen asleep, everything stinging with pins and needles.

“Beginning to regret being right,” Kail muttered, getting back to his feet and using his stolen staff for support.

“Responses to ranged attack insufficient,” Irrethelathlialann said as he rolled behind a table and flipped it onto its side. Either the energy had knocked him into whatever strange mind-set crystal magic did to elves, or he had activated it himself with his ring to improve his reaction time. “Utilization of terrain to limit incoming—”

“Yes, cover, gods,” Kail shouted back, and he and Loch dove to the ground behind a stack of crates as more crimson energy flashed out at them, smashing beakers and shattering crystals where it struck.

“Door,” Loch said to Kail.

“I’m guessing it’s gonna be locked.”

“Be creative.”

“Understood, Captain.” He lunged to his feet and sprinted for the door leading outside, and Loch got to her feet as well.

The nobles—the paladins, apparently—were advancing. There were a half dozen of them, not counting Westteich. Kail and Irrethelathlialann had taken down several while Loch had been dealing with Arikayurichi. Six versus three, or two with Kail doing something with the door, was crappy odds to begin with.

The odds got worse as Lesaguris closed with her, his quarterstaff snapping out at her head. She parried with her blade, checked it with the sheath-stick, and lunged. Lesaguris parried with easy grace and kicked her in the chest in the same smooth motion.

The kick wasn’t stronger than a human could possibly have managed, Loch figured as she slammed into a moving belt, but it was right there at the upper edge of normal.

“Yes, we’re a little better at being you than you are,” Lesaguris said with a smile. “Now, where is Arikayurichi?”

“Dead,” Loch said, lifting her blade. Lesaguris gave his thoughtful nod again and then lunged in with a circling strike that Loch parried, only to realize too late that it was a feint as the quarterstaff spun to crack down on her wrist. Her blade skittered away, sheath-stick along with it, and Loch lunged in hard, punched at
his
wrist, and tore the quarterstaff free.

His elbow caught her on the cheek, and she stumbled, got her guard down as his other hand drove a fist into her stomach, and then felt her feet go out from under her as he took out her legs.

She landed on the moving belt, punched out blind, and caught something that sent him back and gave her the breathing room to get back to her feet.

By the time she did, Lesaguris stood opposite her on the moving belt. He rolled out his shoulders and adjusted the long black coat. “You know, I’ve missed bodies. You’re not bad.”

“I’m not done,” Loch said.

Loch was starting to hate his thoughtful nod and was about to come in swinging when a blast of crimson energy caught her from the side. She hit the ground some ways away, landing with a jolt that would have hurt more if half her body hadn’t gone pins and needles again, and blinked away spots of blackness at the edge of her vision.

“I think you might be,” Lesaguris said, hopping down from the moving belt. “You can’t take me one-to-one, and we outnumber you two-to-one. Don’t get me wrong, ma’am. You’re fighting for your way of life, and I honor that. We did the same in our day.”

“Your day is
over
.” Loch had landed close to her blade and sheath-stick. She grabbed both, slammed the blade into the sheath so that it was a walking stick once more, and used it to shove herself back to her feet.

“And now the Champion of Dawn defeated the Glimmering Folk and declared that a
new
day has begun,” Lesaguris said. “According to Ghylspwr, you were instrumental in making that happen. That’s why we’ve listened to his recommendation for leniency.”

The other paladin, the one who had blasted her from the side, came around into Loch’s field of view. Loch kept an eye on him as she said to Lesaguris, “So what? I surrender and watch you destroy this world?”

“I’m afraid you lost the chance for that when you stopped Arikayurichi from hobbling the Republic and the Empire.” Lesaguris shrugged. “Ordinarily, we’d slap a band on you, but Ghylspwr was adamant that you’d prefer a quick death.”

“He’s not wrong,” Loch said. Behind Lesaguris, Irrethelathlialann moved with desperate precision, keeping the paladins back but never getting close enough to do any real damage.

Lesaguris thoughtfully nodded at her again, and she readied herself for the attack. Her side was still weak, and after fighting Arikayurichi, she wasn’t moving as quickly as she needed to against someone with his power.

Then the sealed door leading out of the processing center slammed open, ripping a fair chunk of the doorframe along with it, and Icy stepped into the room with Desidora behind him, her dress and hair pitch black and her skin alabaster.

“Captain,” Kail called from the ground where the door had caught him, “I got it open!”

“Rain check on the quick death,” Loch called, and dove behind the crates as blasts of crimson snapped around her. She dove over one belt, dodged around another, and slid under a third, then came back to her feet at the doorway in time to see Lesaguris pointing at her.

The crimson energy whip-cracked into Loch and blasted her through the doorway. This time she didn’t roll as well as she needed to, but as escapes went, she’d gone through worse.

Nine

W
ELL
,”
SAID
L
ESAGURIS
, looking at the processing center, “this is more damage than I’d expected.”

The rest of the black-coated paladins had rushed outside after Loch and the rest of her team, leaving only Westteich and the leader of the ancients.

It was definitely Lesaguris talking. The nobleman who had been in charge of that body beforehand had been loyal, enthusiastic, and not the kind of man you put in charge of projects that required compound sentences. Westteich hadn’t been sure that such a man was the right sort to be part of the return of the ancients, but now he had a clearer picture of how things looked.

“I’m afraid Arikayurichi insisted on handling Loch’s capture himself,” Westteich said, noting the shattered crystals and broken tables and general chaos that would likely slow down any processing in the processing center for the next week or two. “I offered alternatives that might have allowed for a quieter capture, but he was quite emotional about it.”

“Arikayurichi was a bit of a blunt instrument,” Lesaguris said. He clasped his arms behind his back while the few functional golems began to pick up the detritus. “He had a fairly low opinion of humanity, you know, which was why he championed the plan to devastate both the Republic and the Empire.”

Westteich nodded politely. “I’m sure such a plan would eventually have worked out in a manner that facilitated the return of the ancients, my lord.”

Lesaguris turned to him with an amused look. “Delicately put, Westteich.” He paused as a black-coated ancient came into the processing center. “Mister Skinner, where do we stand?”

“Well, the place is crawling with kobolds,” said the man, chewing on his lower lip, “but nothing we can’t handle. May be able to use them, as well as what happened at the Forge of the Ancients. I’ll need what’s left of the Hunters, though.”

“Granted.” Lesaguris nodded to the man, who ducked back out of the room. “Would you like to know what happens now, Westteich?”

“Of course, my lord. I can hardly help tear down the world of men and rebuild the world of the ancients without knowing the plan.” Westteich smiled. “You’ll forgive me tempering my curiosity, however. Arikayurichi did not always appreciate it.”

Lesaguris chuckled. “You can rest easy, Westteich. I have no intention of slapping a band on you. I note you avoided volunteering to grab one when we first arrived. You knew a life of thralldom was coming, and you thought that you deserved better. Trying to take what you believe you deserve is the only way you ever get anywhere.” He gestured at his own body. “This poor fellow never thought twice about what being a paladin, the mortal vessel carrying an ancient, actually
meant
.”

“To be honest,” Westteich said, “I’d be surprised if he had even thought
once
about it.”

Lesaguris raised a hand, and one of the golems switched from picking up smashed fragments of glass to repairing the moving belt. “And you never told them, did you, Westteich? I’m guessing not all of these men would have volunteered for thralldom, and you knew what it meant, and you knew that we needed thralls, so you kept quiet and just never put on the band yourself.”

“Those without the intelligence to ask the difficult questions,” Westteich said, “generally deserve what they get.”

Another of the black-coated paladins came back into the room. “I figured out why we had intruders in the entry chamber. We’re dealing with a death priestess.”

“Thank you, Mister Lively.” Lesaguris nodded. “Take steps. We made efforts to get our souls into this world. I’d rather not have them drained out of it again.” The presumable Mister Lively nodded and ducked back out, and Lesaguris turned to Westteich. “I like you, Westteich. I like this world. I don’t see any reason to bathe it in fire just because it’s not exactly the way we left it all those centuries ago. This Republic of yours has everything we need already in place.” He waved at the room. “Barring a few repairs, of course. You know what strikes me as odd, though, Westteich?”