The Inner Circle: Holy Spirit (41 page)

‘
I’m going to help
you get there,’ Ilgrin murmured sadly. ‘It’s the least I can do,
all considering.’ Whether he was referring to his recent activities
as the devil, or his past decision to drop her in the field outside
of Sitnic was a mystery to Seteal.

‘
Me, too.’ El-i-miir
bit her lip. ‘I owe you that much.’

‘
Be quiet. Both of
you,’ Seteal snapped, having noticed Parrowun’s sudden look of
distress. ‘It’s okay, sweetie,’ She kissed his warm cheek and
hugged him tight. ‘Mommy’s here.’

*

Seeol twitched his tail nervously as he
peered through the trees. The battle within the city behind him
seemed endless, but nobody was interested in him. Apparently birds
didn’t factor in as much of a threat. He clicked his head toward a
faint crunching sound and soon zeroed in on human footfall. When he
heard female voices and spotted movement through the northern
woodland, he decided to see if he’d discovered what he was looking
for.

Having found a suitable tree to land
in, Seeol gazed through the woods and his heart leapt joyously.
There before him, standing together was Seteal, Ilgrin, and
El-i-miir slowly picking their way north. He’d succeeded in saving
them when attacking Noah. He’d been so worried that Ilgrin hadn’t
been able to catch El-i-miir in time, but here they were, living
proof of his success.

Seeol’s eyes dipped lower at the sound
of a nasty, snotty sneeze. Parrowun was there also. Seeol shook out
his feathers in irritation. That was one dangerous baby. Much like
Seeol, he, too, was filled with darkness. Perhaps he would keep his
distance for now. He would just watch them, making sure to keep
them safe.

CHAPTER
tHIRTY-tWO

mURDERER

It’d been a couple of weeks since
they’d left Belos and Seteal was feeling much better. Parrowun
hadn’t once caused a fuss, Ilgrin had procured a cloak, and
El-i-miir had managed to affiliate a horse breeder into giving them
each a mount. They’d suffered many trials along the way, having
been attacked by wild animals and caught in a terrible storm.
Ilgrin would’ve suspected it to be Seeol’s fault, but the little
bird was nowhere to be seen.

Parrowun was a peculiar child. He was
content when other children would’ve been miserable. He remained
completely unfazed by the disasters that’d befallen them and yet on
previous occasions, he’d burst into tears without any recognisable
stimulus. When Ilgrin questioned Seteal about it, he quickly
discovered that she preferred not to dwell on his unusual
character. He was her perfect little boy.

El-i-miir had scarcely spoken two
words since leaving Belos, which was fine with Ilgrin. He was quite
enjoying a break from their previously endless
bickering.

‘
We have a decision
to make.’ Seteal pulled her horse to a stop and squinted at
Beldin’s fortified walls in the distance. It was the largest city
in Gordin, with a booming economy that rivalled the likes of
Jenjol.

‘
I say we go in.’
El-i-miir shrugged. ‘We’re running low on supplies and it wouldn’t
hurt to top up before we continue on to Gor Narvon.’

‘
Agreed.’ Ilgrin
nodded. ‘You two make the necessary purchases and I’ll wait outside
the western gates.’ With a nod of satisfaction, Seteal and
El-i-miir made their way into the crowded city.

Making sure to keep a wide berth
between him and the city, Ilgrin slunk through the trees toward the
west. As he approached the road he came to an abrupt halt. ‘No
way,’ he murmured in astonishment when he saw brightly polished
shields reflected the morning sunlight. ‘It can’t be.’ He squinted
at the distant figure leading a seemingly endless army that trailed
over the horizon.

A rather haggard looking
Far-a-mael limped toward the city, leaning heavily on a stick for
support. His hadoan kept a respectful distance, but did not falter
from formation. The gates swung open at a shouted order and the
hadoan entered. Overwhelmed by the sight before him, Ilgrin almost
failed to notice the distant rumbling in the south, but not quite.
The sound had become too familiar for him to ignore.

A black line appeared in the distant
sky, silts dipping and swooping about the greater mass. In contrast
to the Elglair, there was no recognisable formation at all.
‘Torrid,’ Ilgrin exhaled slowly and cupped his hands over his face,
before turning to stare up at the giant city walls. Beldin was the
next city on the demon hit list, but it was currently a city
inhabited by thousands of Elglair and his friends were trapped
inside. He had no choice but to warn them.

Ilgrin paced back and forth through the
trees, becoming increasingly anxious as the legion drew closer.
There was no way he’d find them. The city was huge.

‘
What do I do!?’ he
cried in frustration.

‘
You haves to warn
them,’ Seeol croaked, the sound taking Ilgrin by surprise and
causing him to jump.

‘
Seeol?’ Ilgrin spun
around until he located the bird perched in a nearby tree. ‘Seeol,’
Ilgrin repeated, an idea already forming in his mind. He threw off
his cloak and took a step toward the owl.

*

‘
I’m finally feeling
somewhat normal again.’ Seteal smiled at El-i-miir as the pair took
a moment to gaze admiringly at expensive jewellery in a shop
window. ‘I think I may be ready to embrace life again, you know. I
have my son and I’ll be home soon. Father will undoubtedly help out
however he can.’

‘
I’m glad to hear
it.’ El-i-miir smiled back, while inwardly recognising the
absent-mindedness of Seteal’s words. How long would it take for the
legions of Hades to reach her miniscule village and destroy it?
El-i-miir suspected not long. It was a strange twist of fate that
New World’s greatest hope of salvation now rested in the hands of
Far-a-mael, the man who’d been the sole cause of all this senseless
destruction.

‘
You will just love
Elmsville.’ Seteal giggled as they continued along the busy road.
‘People say small towns are boring, but there really is plenty to
do. Perhaps you’ll stay.’

‘
Maybe,’ El-i-miir
said distractedly as she approached a stall selling a variety of
breads.

‘
Morning, miss.’ A
portly fellow tipped his hat. ‘I didn’t think your type would be
here quite so soon.’

‘
My type?’ El-i-miir
frowned, still distracted by an itching in the Ways. ‘What is
that?’

‘
What?’ Seteal raised
her eyebrows.

‘
Far-a-mael is here,’
El-i-miir gasped when she recognised a familiar strand of light. It
was different--filled with gaping holes and fraying sides, but it
was Far-a-mael nevertheless.

‘
What, in the city?’
Seteal enquired.

An explosion of excited gasps and
screams arose in the west, immediately taking El-i-miir’s
attention. She and Seteal turned their faces to the sky where a
solitary silt swooped about shouting manically. ‘Is that . . . ?’
El-i-miir trailed off.

‘
Ilgrin,’ Seteal
finished. ‘What in Maker’s great goodness is he doing?’

‘
El-i-miir!’ Ilgrin’s
cry carried on the wind. ‘Seteal!’

‘
He’s looking for
us,’ El-i-miir said in astonishment.

An arrow flew through the air, but
Ilgrin swung his fist toward it and it spun passed him on a sudden
gust of wind. ‘What’s in his hand?’ Seteal frowned. ‘Is that an
animal?’

‘
It’s
Seeol.
’ El-i-miir gaped. A pistol blasted
several strides away. Again, Ilgrin went miraculously unharmed.
‘I’ll affiliate him closer.’

A moment later El-i-miir beat her wings
and made her way east. She spotted herself and Seteal standing by
the stall and released Ilgrin’s mind as he closed in.

‘
The legion!' he
shouted. ‘They’re coming.’

A silt soared over the city wall to the
south, followed by another and another. Ilgrin landed heavily, just
one of many demons now doing the same. The fellow behind the stall
cried out in fear and ran for his life. A woman hurried screaming
down the street, her daughter crying in her arms.

‘
We need to get out
of here,’ Ilgrin said urgently as he uncurled his fingers to reveal
a rather dazed-looking Seeol.

‘
Again,’ Seeol
commanded. ‘That was fun times.’

A young silt toppled through the air
before hitting the ground across the road, where he screamed and
clawed at his face, white mist reaching away from his pallid flesh.
He howled in misery before becoming very still, the sieift fading
against the blue morning sky.

‘
T
he Elglair brought their
angels,’ Seteal said wearily.

El-i-miir spun toward an
explosion in the north. Masses of silts fell from the sky. Vibrant
colours snaked away from the earth to penetrate demon auras and
wrap them in horrors unknown. Wall archers took the opportunity
with enthusiasm and arrows sprayed down from above. A gust of wind
blew El-i-miir’s hair over her eye. Cold metal talons snapped
around her arm and before she could react, her feet had left the
ground.

*

Ilgrin wasted a shared moment where he
and Seteal stared at each other, before granting her an apologetic
glance and taking to the sky. The air swarmed and it was impossible
for Ilgrin to fly without occasionally slapping his wings against
someone else’s.

‘
El-i-miir,’ he
called, but his voice amounted to wasted breath in the
melee.

The northern part of the city was
packed with Elglair. Most were expert swordsmen. Others were
formidable gils. Some had strange specialties that Ilgrin hadn’t
even seen or heard of. A seemingly endless supply of silts flew
fiercely into the city. Many had landed atop the walls where they
indiscriminately hurled the soldiers of Beldin over the edge to
plummet to their deaths.

The characteristic black clouds
of silt warfare made their presence known as demons were unfairly
brought back from the dead. Whisps billowed this way and that. Some
dissipated immediately. Most did not. Pet dogs became strange
mutant creatures that prowled the streets lusting to kill.
Well-built homes crumbled, crushing anyone cowering within.
Ilgrin’s jaw fell open in disgust when a whisp billowed away from
one resurrected silt, only to take the life of another, who in turn
was resurrected by the first.

‘
El-i-miir!’ Ilgrin
cried again, panic rising in his chest as he saw countless humans
screaming through the air clasped between silt talons to be
released once they were too high to survive the fall.
‘El-i-miir!’

‘
I’m here!’ a male
voice shouted from above.

Ilgrin looked over his shoulder to see
a silt carrying El-i-miir in his arms. His eyes were vacant.
El-i-miir’s were filled with the concentration required to beat
someone else’s wings. ‘I’ve got you.’ Ilgrin slowed behind the
other silt and wrapped his arms around El-i-miir. The silt released
her and flew away. ‘Thank Maker you’re okay,’ Ilgrin dipped toward
the ground.

The wind was torn from Ilgrin’s lungs
as something slammed into his ribs and El-i-miir screamed. The
legion silt had returned. The man snapped his talons around
El-i-miir’s leg and started flying in the opposite direction.
Caught off-guard, Ilgrin almost lost his grip, but managed to keep
a hold of El-i-miir’s wrist. At such a strange angle the wind
snapped back Ilgrin’s wing and he flailed out of control. El-i-miir
screamed in pain as she was dragged in two separate directions.

‘
Affiliate him!’
Ilgrin cried as he regained balance, but whether it was due to pain
or fear, El-i-miir was unable to respond.

In an attempt to minimise the
pull on El-i-miir’s body, Ilgrin flew with their attacker. With a
desperate grunt he leapt forward and swung his knife at the silt’s
back. He missed his target, instead plunging the knife into the
legion soldier’s wing and tearing a hole down its length. The silt
cried out in pain as he spiralled uncontrollably, his split wing
incapable of properly capturing the wind.

‘
Let her go.’ Ilgrin
swung a fist at the demon’s face. Refusing to risk snapping
El-i-miir in half, Ilgrin stopped beating his wings, instead
clinging to the back of the wounded silt, falling together with him
and El-i-miir. ‘Let go!’ Ilgrin shouted, again punching the silt in
the head. And suddenly he did.

‘
Too dead,’ the silt
choked out as he saw the ground rushing up at them. With those
simple words the struggle was turned on Ilgrin. ‘Heal me,’ he
begged. ‘Quickly. Heal me.’ The legion silt clung to him
mercilessly and Ilgrin threw open his wings, which only served in
slowing their decent. He still had one arm clasped around
El-i-miir’s wrist, and only his feet and free hand to struggle
against their attacker.

‘
Teah!’ Ilgrin howled
at a familiar site flying low above the rooftops. ‘Save her!’ he
cried when the woman met his eyes. ‘Please,’ he whispered allowing
El-i-miir to slide screaming from his grip. Without the additional
burden, Ilgrin was able to retrieve his knife a second time to
drive it into his attacker’s stomach. ‘Why don’t you just die? All
of you!’ He shoved the dagger into the man’s torso again and again
until the body fell away, spraying blue blood as it
went.