The Light of Heaven (24 page)

Erak ran a hand across a turnwheel and his palm came up covered in dirt. "I doubt there have been many cleansings or offerings made here in a long time. How does it look?"

Gabriella laid her hand on a small table and knelt to check the undersides of the wooden frame of the see-saw pump and the monstrous amphorae that held the naphtha. The wood was solid and well-carpentered, with no sign of rot, while the amphorae were sound with no cracks. "Looks fine."

"I bet Stoll wishes he'd let it rot."

"Probably," Gabriella agreed

It was a very nice dream. He was in the Golden Huntress, preaching to the townspeople from a lectern made of a girl doing a handstand on another girl's back. For some reason there were horses in the congregation too. He was enjoying himself, giving his favourite sermon, about why the spirit of a law was more important than the letter of it, when suddenly the roof caved in.

Stoll rolled to his feet, dizzy and staggering, wondering if he was concussed. Then he remembered he was locked in his cell. The smile froze on Stoll's florid face. The redness in his cheeks changed hue and he licked his suddenly dry lips. A bearded man in the white robes of a Confessor was looking at him through a barred opening in the door.

"Let's have a little chat," the Confessor said and bared rotten teeth.

Gabriella was engaged in a contest with some of the local children, skipping flat stones across the surface of the fountain pool. The object seemed to be to get the stone all the way across and onto the ground opposite. Gabriella had just succeeded, and was now congratulating a girl who had matched her feat, when Erak emerged from the church.

He was wearing the blue robes of an Enlightened One, though she could hear mail rattling under the robes.

"It's time," he said. "Apparently the confession didn't take long. He was happy to talk. It seems Warrigan was blackmailing him over his Brotherhood tattoo."

"Stoll is Brotherhood?"

"He says not; that they gave him the tattoo while he was unconscious so they could blackmail him. I believe him. Doesn't matter, though; he still had a choice. He could have reported them, confessed and had a good enough Healer remove the tattoo by magic."

She rose and accompanied him round to the front of the church. A gibbet was being hoisted onto its pole and ten Knights of the Swords were singing the Hymn of Contrition, as two knights dragged Stoll out.

The cleansing wasn't pretty, or pleasant; not for anyone. As with so many things, an act intended to help and to make things right in the long run was uncomfortable in the short term. Gabriella briefly thought of the foul-tasting medicines her parents had made her take when she was a child and had the ague. They healed her body, but they made her cry with the vileness of the taste.

The cleansing would heal Kurt Stoll's soul, but it would make him cry too. He sobbed as the Knights who surrounded the square stripped him naked; the vestments of the Faith were too sacred to be burned.

As they did this, Preceptor DeBarres read out the proclamation from Scholten condemning Stoll to be cleansed by fire. Then they put him in the gibbet, which had already been attached to the lead piping from below the church.

In the end, Kurt Stoll was screaming his life away even before the liquid fire poured down on him and he fell silent bare moments after it started.

Justice had been done, Gabriella considered. People needed to know that the Final Faith was even-handed, and dealt with its own transgressors as fairly as it did anyone else.

For all that this was a good thing, one matter chewed away at Gabriella's heart. Stoll had signed as witness to her and Erak's pledge. She felt tainted by that.

CHAPTER 12

With the Cleansing over, DeBarres had led his Knights out to search the surrounding area for signs of further goblin incursions. Kannis had formed the hundred or so mercenaries into squads to be dispersed around the entrances to Solnos. They were determined that no goblins would invade this town again

People were steering clear of the church. Whether it was the battle that had put them off or the stink of the burnt Enlightened One that still pervaded the plaza, or just general Pontaine disinterest in the Final Faith, Dai Batsen couldn't tell.

He walked into Solnos for the first time in a few days, his topknot and shaven scalp replaced by a very short but even covering of hair. He had left for his secure hiding place when the goblins attacked, having no interest in a pitched battle.

Now he needed to know whether either DeZantez or Brand had survived their little overnight siege. If they had not, he would collect the fee for the hard work the goblins had done. If they had survived, he now knew what they both looked like, and would carry out the task for which he had been employed.

He walked up the plaza steps, and into the church.

Gabriella had gone across to the Swords' new headquarters at the inn, to make a few requests for supplies and equipment. Kannis was passing through, and Gabriella halted her for a moment.

"I didn't get the chance to thank you for your help with the goblins."

"You paid up," the scar-faced woman said blandly. "That's all the thanks I need." Her eyes twinkled.

"The Lord helps those -"

"So I heard. Raul used to say that a lot. I see he still does."

"Raul? Preceptor DeBarres?"

"He wasn't a Preceptor in those days," she said wistfully.

"I thought when you greeted him that you must know him..."

"Haven't seen him for years, but it's nice to see him again."

"So, how do you know him? Did you meet in the war, or...?"

"It's a long story," Kannis said. "And Raul probably tells it more entertainingly than I would." She glanced at the sky for a moment. "I'd better get going. I've got to help with the pits being dug near the east bridge."

"Be seeing you, then," Gabriella said, stepping aside.

Kannis hurried on and Gabriella finished writing out her supply requests. Then she headed up to the market to buy a loaf and some cheese, before finally returning to the church.

The main doors were ajar and Gabriella knew she had closed them when she left. She didn't touch them as she squeezed between them, in case they squeaked and alerted anyone within. Gabriella set her purchases on a pew and padded as quietly as she could towards the transept, keeping close to the wall. Stepping into the nave would invite an arrow if someone was lurking above.

She risked a look back to the doors and saw that Erak had followed her in and was edging along the aisle on the other side. He flashed her a quick grin.

"What happened?" he whispered.

"I think we have a visitor."

Above, Dai Batsen crept along the narrow ledge separating the ceiling of the nave from the inside of the bell tower. Below, two people walked right into his field of vision, though he had cloaked himself in shadows. They were his targets.

Pulling two short daggers from his belt, Batsen leapt.

Gabriella shoved Erak aside as a black clad man landed between them. She recognised him instantly as the man who had attacked her before. On any other day, Gabriella might have been afraid as well as wary, but not today. Today she was simply relieved, because the assassin was indeed a man and not an inhuman monster.

Gabriella lunged forward, while Erak circled round to stop Batsen from getting away. Batsen simply took it in his stride. The Order of the Swords of Dawn might fight on the Lord's behalf, but they didn't share His omniscience or omnipotence. Or His infallibility.

Batsen dodged back from Gabriella's whirling blades, pretending not to notice Erak outflanking him. When the wiry knight was close enough and about to attack, Batsen hit him in the gut with a back kick, without looking round.

Erak staggered back and Gabriella redoubled her attack. Batsen ducked under the blades. If he could stay in close enough, Gabriella wouldn't be able to swing well enough, and he could use his finger-length blades to better effect.

Then Gabriella unexpectedly slashed low, the flat of one blade sweeping Batsen off his feet. Batsen rolled, narrowly getting out from under the edge of Gabriella's foot as it slashed towards his neck.

Erak caught his balance and sprang back to engage Batsen again. Batsen sidestepped to keep the armoured Knight between himself and Gabriella. Batsen was faster with his kicks and punches and had his knives, but Erak was clothed in iron mail under his robes. All of Batsen's blows rebounded from Erak's armour as the knight blocked him. The dagger's blade scraped uselessly across the iron links of Erak's mail.

Batsen stunned Erak with a high-rising kick that made the Knight pull his head back and sent him stumbling back into Gabriella. Both Knights tumbled in a heap.

Batsen's breath burned his lungs and now he felt he had the measure of the two Knights and, while he refused to feel comfortable enough to underestimate them, he was satisfied that they did not outclass him. All that mattered was that he fulfilled his contract. Live or die, he would be doing his best to earn that purse.

Gabriella and Erak were back on their feet and advancing on him from either side. Gabriella let her expression clear. Let the enemy wonder whether she was angry or afraid, excited or overconfident. Let him not know who his enemy was. She was Gabriella DeZantez: Enlightened One of the Final Faith and defender of the people in the name of the Lord of All.

Batsen drew a straight-bladed smallsword from a sheath at his back and rolled the weapon around his wrist, testing the weight and balance. With his right hand, he smoothed down the front of his rumpled tunic and beckoned his opponents towards him.

They rushed him together, Erak's blade held low. Batsen bounded forward a couple of steps and leapt into the air between them. One foot hit the flat of Erak's blade as if it was a ladder rung and prevented him from swinging the weapon. The other foot caught Gabriella's shoulder, making her stagger aside.

Then Batsen was on the balls of his feet, blocking and parrying Gabriella's attacks. The sword-hilt jarred painfully against the heel of his hand with each block. Erak was on the other side of him, lunging forward with his weapon, but the assassin merely danced aside, forcing Erak to pull back for fear of hitting Gabriella.

Suddenly, Erak was upon him once again and Batsen found himself making side kicks to the Knight's hands, while fencing against the two blades that Gabriella was trying to drum on his head with. The trio danced around the nave like this for a moment, each seeking an advantage. Then something struck Batsen's ankle, and a sweep from Erak Brand's blade knocked the smallsword from his hand.

Before either Knight could move on him, Batsen stabbed backwards for Gabriella with an elbow and snapped a kick at Erak's head. Both Knights staggered back, allowing Batsen to slip a toe under his fallen smallsword and flick it up into his hand.

He fenced with Gabriella for a moment, then lunged for her throat. She batted the attack aside and pushed forward, driving the assassin back towards the altar. Now she had him.

The assassin didn't return to the attack. Instead, a startling, almost blinding, light blazed from his eyes, and he thrust out his left hand. Gabriella didn't know what that meant, but she knew it was meant to be bad for her, so she dove and rolled, just in time to avoid a bolt of lightning that shattered the air and ignited a pew.

Gabriella didn't quite understand what had just happened, but she rose and rushed at the assassin. He was blocking the door now, light beaming out from his eyes. He grinned, his left hand rising, and Gabriella understood that she had badly misjudged things. One man was not just one man. Not when he was a Shadowmage.

Batsen made a quick gesture and muttered a word that kept his mind in focus. Immediately, the torches flickered and the light in the church dimmed. Erak froze, and waved his hand around in front of his face as if he suddenly couldn't see, but Gabriella was more surprised to see Batsen walk right towards her, angling from the left, as if he thought she couldn't see him.

A swift kick to the chest, and a lunge that nearly skewered him, changed his mind. He looked utterly shocked and suddenly the light in the church was restored. Erak snarled and ran at Batsen. Batsen leapt onto a pew and thrust his hands upwards.

Without warning, the floor exploded upwards around Erak's feet, grabbing at his legs and holding him fast.

Seeing his target immobilised didn't make enough impression on Batsen to raise a smile, but it was an opportunity he was too professional to let go. He raised both hands slightly, pulling tendrils of fire out of the air and gathering them into a ball. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the ball of blinding flame shot across the chamber and exploded against Erak's head.

The fire engulfed him instantly and his screams almost drowned out the crackling of burning flesh. Sparks of infernal red and gold burned across his armour and out to his wide-flung hands.

What had once been Erak Brand dropped to his knees and stopped screaming as there was no more air in his lungs. He thrashed and twitched, melted skin and fats dripping from his hands, before finally lying still.

Gabriella couldn't believe her eyes. She felt as though all she could hear were Erak's dying screams.

She rushed out into the plaza, knowing that her assailant would follow.

Close on her heels Batsen sent another flaming bolt after her. The blast knocked Gabriella off her feet and she rolled, managing to keep a hold of her sword.

Batsen called upon the air to form another fireball and hurled it with perfect accuracy.

A fist-sized globe of red flame hit Gabriella between the shoulder-blades. She arched her back under the impact and Batsen, for the first time in years, felt something. He felt utter, uncomprehending, astonishment as she turned round.

Her hair floated around her head as if lifted by a breeze and worms of light wriggled in the folds of her armour.

She didn't die screaming, with smoke curling from her lungs as they burned.