Surfacing Ch. 16

Gavin signed with one nearly-fleshless hand: *Wait. Coming.*

Mourn immediately looked to the Guild. "Make the Bishops unseal the door."

"NEVER!" Keros spat. "None of your foulness will get outside this temple to infest others. I will surrender to Musanlo before I will allow a breach anywhere!"

"Implying you can do it alone? We have weapons that will steal your soul and block you from ever joining your God, even if he would wish to see you after all you have done in his name."

"No!" another Bishop cried, panicked. "Th-the Archbishop needs us! We all created it, we must all live to undo it together!"

Keros's face turned to stone. Glancing at the one dead Bishop, coupled with something he saw in their faces, Mourn decided he didn't believe them.

"Send all of them but Keros to the Grey Maiden."

Keros was shocked when Wolf punched his throat and slammed a fist into his crotch, sending him to the floor. Meanwhile, the rest each grabbed a Bishop, two on one, to hold the helpless mages still until Deshi came along to stab them through the heart, one after the other.

I noticed that Gavin only signed to me again after hearing some death rattles. *Blood in pool?*

I looked up again at the mirrors but really had to squint. I could see bright red along the edge of one tile, staining the blue rune purple and dripping down the edge.

"A little."

Gavin made a small sound. "Heh."

Then he signed: *Move back.*

Something very, very low droned beneath us, and the first peel of thunder sounded above in the grey Sky.

Shit.

*Leave me,* Gavin signed. *My pack. Charms.*

Oh, by the bloody Abyss.

"Mourn! Call everyone back! The rift!"

They didn't really need my direction on this, they heard and felt it, too, but a little urgency never hurt. They tried to drag Keros with them but the Archbishop struggled desperately for an elder Human, making a lot of undignified noises. He managed to twist free and sprinted farther into the chamber, stumbling and scrabbling over the suffocated and shredded bodies of the Temple Guardians which lined the barrier.

"Leave him!" Mourn growled.

The Guild didn't want to, but they obeyed, limberly jumping over bodies themselves to follow us.

"Gambling on him opening the door to save himself?" Jael said cynically.

"Yes."

"I would, too."

I seized Gavin's unscorched pack and fumbled inside for something that felt like a pouch of bones. Sadly for any urgency, there were three or four of them. I had to open them all quickly to locate the right set of bones. The spares he'd made weren't necklaces, but they had the hole drilled already. I counted. We had nine spare charms; Gavin had made twenty of the damned things. Not quite enough for all of the Guild who'd gone on this mission, but two teams weren't here and we had more than enough for the Manalara we wanted to live.

"I need string or wire!" I called as I picked a doorway that would be my protection.

Peng Lok and Deshi responded first, handing me both, and I quickly cut generous lengths, not threading them but ready to hand them out with the charm.

"What are you doing?" the Knight Captain asked, clearly feeling the changes building. "What is happening?"

"Do you trust me when I say we want you to survive?" I asked, looking up at Isboern and Tamuril both as something very unsettling rumbled again beneath my feet.

Tamuril looked stunned. "Trust...?"

"Yes," Isboern answered firmly.

"Good. Take one each and put it around your neck, then take cover."

Tamuril dropped hers the moment it landed in her palm. "No! I cannot wear that!"

"Tami—"

"No! It is undeath! I cannot!"

"I noticed you aren't saying they can't." I indicated Isboern and the Templars.

There was much confusion and fear in her leaf-green eyes, but she nodded. "They can. I cannot."

I looked at Isboern and gave him the one intended for her. "Set it by her feet, at least. Better if it's near the heart."

"I can help that." The blue-eyed Man focused his gaze on it. Silently, it levitated up from his palm. He smiled, and I caught his meaning.

May that work if he cared for his Pale Elf more than she cared for herself.

Everyone including Isboern, Tamuril, and the Templars managed to find cover in doorways and around corners, out of the direct line of sight of the pool. Like with the Chaos cult, it probably wasn't a good idea to look straight at it when the first wave happened.

I crouched low to the ground in a doorway with Gavin's pack to my chest, pulling up my hood to cover my eyes and bracing myself. I checked for what must be the fiftieth time that the second charm was still tied next to a pouch near my womb. Jael and Mourn followed suit to crouch, my Sister pressed to my back—not as comfortable as it sounds since we were both wearing weapons and tools— and Mourn loomed over both of us.

I had already noticed the hybrid was blocking both of us from any potential flying debris like a good bodyguard, but it got better when he murmured To'vah quietly and Jael gasped when she felt his magic seal us in a small bubble, as he'd done with the first Hellhound corpse.

"Can we breathe?!"

"For a little while. I sense this will not take long."

He also signed in front of her face: *Keep silent. Breathe slow.*

I loved the look she gave him; she couldn't argue without acting stupid, but she definitely didn't like taking orders from a male. Especially one bigger than her, easily the size of a Draegloth. With fangs.

The new bubble reminded me to look at the place there Mourn had trapped the bloody contagion of the Ma'ab, keeping it from spreading upon detonation. The shield was now gone, and that place was still a spoiled spot which would be bad to fall into, but the flesh and blood of the Hellhound now created a near-perfect circle on the temple floor. It would be was easy enough to avoid.

The rumble had taken on a different tone, and I peeked ever so slightly around the corner and through Mourn's shield to glimpse the sacred pool now boiling like a black hot spring. Tainted water dripped down the stairs and seeped toward where Gavin's wasted body still lay unmoving.

I honestly didn't know whether Gavin had asked to be left behind because this process would help him or finish the kill. I still didn't know if he meant to remain here or wanted to join his mistress in the Greylands. I only knew that he knew his craft, and he trusted his mistress. I had never questioned his knowledge, his purpose, or his faith in his goddess, because unlike most everyone else I knew, he had never given me reason. I wasn't starting now.

Although if things turned out how Gavin had theorized, I wondered how we would get out of here without him.

*Nyx. You must still want him here on this plane. Have him stay.*

I was not expecting an answer.

Mourn looked toward where Archbishop Keros was making a lot of noise around his followers, trying to bring them together in their faith, but his magic still wasn't working. That was both luck and unlucky, in that he couldn't attack again but also couldn't open the door. The people clutched at his robes, something he clearly hated, as the Nobles begged to be saved from Hell's gaping maw. Or so I guessed; I could not make out a word they were saying.

Keros disentangled himself, offering a weak prayer or two before getting the idea to head back toward the pool and Gavin, making all of us watching tense up. The change was too close; we couldn't break cover even if he meant to act against this somehow.

The Archbishop almost made it back to the line of dead Temple Guardians when the pool finally burst upward with incredible force, spewing the blackened water straight up toward the Skylight. I wasn't looking directly at it when that happened, but I watched Keros's expression, and the way that grey and blue and white light reflected off the terrified pallor of his face.

"THE RAPTURE!" he screamed over the tumultuous rumble, his voice breaking once to go much higher. "IT IS THE RAPTURE!"

If that was what he wanted to call it. I was still fervently hoping for "Unpleasant Surprise for the Ma'ab."

Whatever leading force first struck all of us trapped inside the chamber, no one was left on their feet, or even on their knees. The sound accompanying the burst deafened me. I lost consciousness after it struck, and all I knew were swarms of hungry, desperate shrieks and layers upon layers of hands pawing at me, covering me like a blanket before someone finally whipped it off and away from me, taking all those little tiny claws with it.

When I opened my eyes, the torches had gone out and temple chamber was lit with blue light. Grey mist was rolling in from the altar to spread silently across the floor. Jael had collapsed against me, and Mourn had fallen to the side against the wall, only now shaking his head and moving again.

Soul Drinker was silent, and my spiders moved around in my hair to let me know they were still watching over me. They were relieved I was awake and had not suffered from the same unseen assault that I had. I smelled something like ash right beneath my nose and reached up to touch my chest. My fingers brushed the bone charm, and it instantly disintegrated to powder.

Did that mean it had worked?

I reached down to my belt, and found only the thread where the second charm had been. It had already fallen to dust. For one brief moment, regret and fear swelled up into my throat as I covered my abdomen with my gloved palm.

*Did they get you?*

I prodded at myself. I couldn't feel anything different. Was that good or bad?

How would I know if my unborn still lived? How would I know if something of the Greylands had reached inside my womb to take its place, in spite of the charm? I needed Gavin to tell me; he couldn't be gone...

"S-Sirana?" Jael moaned softly, shifting against me and putting her hand to her forehead.

"Here," I breathed. It almost seemed too quiet to speak louder than that. Who knew what would hear us?

My Sister stared at me, her copper eyes the most welcoming I had ever seen in her; I'd almost have thought we were naked and alone in my room in the barracks. I realized that I couldn't see my own big, pale tits anymore; I saw my black uniform. And my gloves. And weapons. Cris's illusion had been stripped away.

"You look great," she whispered. "I thought I might never see your true face again if I bit the ball."

I smiled a bit. "You already did that. Don't do it again."

There was something to be said for small favors, and Jael took hers in the form of a quick kiss. She still smelled like herself, even if the stink of battle clung to us all. She didn't smell like the Greylands.

Jael and Mourn's charms had fallen apart as well, and even the hybrid seemed a bit unsettled with whatever horde had lunged at us just a moment ago. He looked out and around the temple floor, flicking his tongue and his tail, and I saw his ears turn back slightly as he growled very low, very softly.

The Human Nobles were all down, lax and laying in piles unmoving, and they were slowly being covered by the grey mist, obscured from our view. Keros was already gone from sight, assuming he was on the floor like the rest, and there was no added sound in the temple from the glowing spike of light rising from the pool like a dagger turned Skyward. The Sky outside the temple was full overcast and much darker than it had been at dawn.

"Lung," Mourn said quietly, and even then his voice echoed in the unnatural quiet.

"Huixia," Peng Lok answered, and again from Nianzu, and then Denshi.

"Reprisal."

"Crow." That was Wolf.

"Mourn." Hawk, Viper, and Shark all corrected Brian, but without attitude.

I worked some saliva into my dry mouth and asked, "Captain?"

"Sirana."

"Tamuril?"

"Not awake. I have her." His metal armor shifted. "Templars, sound off."

I heard five variances in short order, answering in various accents, "We are with you, Captain."

Everyone intended to make it past that "first wave" had done so, unless Tamuril didn't wake up. The only one we were missing was Gavin. I started to get up, gently disentangling my dagger's hilt from one of Jael's drawstring pouch with her help.

The mist was cool and feather-light as it swirled around me, a bit of a relief following that intense light and punishing heat. Mourn grunted softly and moved forward, signing, *Stay,* to all others. Jael ignored him and followed me. At least she was being quiet.

The first movement other than us was from far too close to that portal. After a moment, though, I thought that nothing was coming through yet. I saw no shadows, no shapes, even as I was hesitant to look into it too long, worried that it was like staring into the Abyss. The movement wasn't exactly where I thought Gavin had fallen, but it was close enough, and the rising figure was the correct height, with limbs long and lean.

He was pale, with dark hair that looked freshly grown, and not as greasy as normal.

The three of us slowed to a stop. It looked like Gavin, a fully healed Deathwalker with his eyes and most of his face shadowed by the light behind him. The aura was powerful and unsettling even from a good sprint away.

He walked a few steps to where his Witch Hunter servant had fallen, leaned down, and lifted up Kurn's sword before turning toward us. I could see the tendons Gavin had added to the hilt and cross guard of Kurn's sword now slide and wrap around his arm, becoming like an extension of him. The runes on the blade almost visibly pulsed with energy.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He didn't answer at first, tilting his head slightly. He sounded amused. "...did you take a blow to the head again?"

Not bad, but he hadn't said my name. Why hadn't he?

"Tell me your name, your calling, and whom you serve."

As before, he acquiesced. "Gavin. Deathwalker. I serve my mistress."

"You serve who?"

Gavin glanced behind him at the portal. "It would be unwise to blurt it aloud this close. Shall I come forward?"

Mourn drew both sliders and nodded to me.

"Yes."

Gavin was unruffled and unoffended by our caution, and he anticipated something else before I had prepared myself to ask. He was concentrating below eye level as he drew closer. He looked healed, as he had been before but...perhaps even a bit more grey in his dry skin, and a bit stronger.

He lifted familiar ice-blue eyes to ours once he was within reach of Mourn's sliders, and he stopped as an easy target as he kept the tip of his Ma'ab sword pointed toward the floor. He whispered, "The charms worked for you all, including your child, Sirana."

He sounded just a bit pleased, but in Gavin it would be more due to his charms proving so effective. I could always hope that any otherworld creature taking over a new vessel wouldn't know my weakness so well and so quickly...because I probably wouldn't see it coming if it did.

I swallowed, wanting to believe him but we had to be sure.

"Say your mistress's name," I demanded evenly. "Swear that you serve her still."

He nodded once, his voice still quiet. "I serve with my whole devotion the Maiden of the Shrouds, the Grave Mother, Nyx of the Greylands, once stewardess of the Winter Throne before Musanlo barred her from this realm. Now and through eternity, I belong to her and will see her calm, guiding hand return once again to balance the scales of Miurag."

Jael looked between Mourn and I, unable to tell if these were just the dogma of an obsessed zealot. It was a bit more than I'd been expecting, but it matched everything in Krithannia's records and all that Gavin had said before. Plus a bit more. What was a Winter Throne?

Gavin smiled to show his teeth. They were still black. "Oaths of this nature cannot be spoken upon the Greylands unless they are true. The dead do not lie, Sirana."

Was he dead, then? Or was he trying to say this sacred site had just turned into an extension of the Greylands? It was certainly quiet and grey enough in here for a land of the dead...

The necromancer's smile dropped as he looked back directly at the rift then back at us. Something cold crept up my spine as I heard the first moan at the other side of the chamber. Someone was standing up.

"Do we still have Deshi's dagger?" Gavin asked.

Mourn answered. "We still have Deshi."

"Call him forward. Tell him to stab as many of the Temple Guardians through the heart as he can."

"The full plate is in the way," Jael pointed out.

"Then I'd suggest helping him. Keep your silver handy but don't waste it on the dead or any we recruit to our side now. Mourn, we need the main door open or we may not get the results we wish to see from this plan."

"Agreed."

Mourn did not waste time sending Reprisal and Lung to work on the armor already damaged by the Hellhound chains, though they had to find bodies first by nudging their toes around in the mist, and it wasn't an easy chore.

Jael took her moment to stare at the Yungian Men, who had also been stripped of their illusions. Now everyone was in their true form. They were shorter and more lean than Reprisal by direct comparison—a bit more like our male Drow—and their eyes were more like...well, more like Jael's, if less like mine. She spared a glance at me with a raised brow and I smiled.

*Would be better with pointed ears,* she signed.

I shrugged. Perhaps. There was nothing wrong with their enthusiasm, this was for certain. Then, to my slight surprise, she went to go help them remove some of the plate armor.

Gavin asked me for his pack, and I returned it to him. He'd lost the severed Witch Hunters hand and his dagger in the holy light from what I could tell, but he retrieved a sharp scalpel from inside one of his kits.

Donning his pack and the new tendon straps making it so he did not have to release the Ma'ab sword entirely though he could still use his hand, he next whispered and spread out his palm before him. A wind that I could not feel began to sweep the grey mist before him, revealing the floor of the temple. He focused on locating Keros's body and those of the two remaining Hellhounds and the Temple Guardians. The Guildsmen grunted in thanks and were able to work that much faster.

I watched the necromancer roll up his sleeve and kneel by Keros to cut strips of skin from the Archbishop's left arm. Gavin demonstrated a skill in doing so without damaging the muscles underneath, and he did not take more than he needed as he quickly made another little skin kite like the one I'd seen above me while the Witch Hunters were "interrogating" me. I had to assume the other one had been left behind or burned up in holy light.

"When did you learn to do that?" I asked.

"Before we met," he said brusquely, letting the bloody thing go to flap its way up along the wall, avoiding the rift and trying for the shattered Skylight. "Though as of more recently, it is better refined."

"How so?"

"Instead of being a mere disgusting distraction, now I can see through it. I wager you knew that after you own personal inquisition."

So it had seemed at the time. Lucky for me.

Now he wanted to see what was happening outside. That wasn't a bad idea.

I watched its progress for a little bit before Gavin unintentionally drew my eyes back by wiping off the scalpel before cutting himself deeply on his sword arm, much more so than I'd ever witnessed before. It was viciously harsh and he clutched the hilt tighter as he absorbed the pain. I took a step back, watching the tip of that sword for a moment.

Black blood—shimmering ever so slightly in blue—started dripping onto the floor and on his feet, even as he secured the strained scalpel hastily within his belt and pressed the whole of his hand over the wound, collecting as much of his blood as he could.

He focused on the two whole Hellhounds first, drawing runes on their bald heads and the sides of their necks, muttering deep and fast. Then he went back to Keros, and then to the Bishops closer to the rift. I looked up again at the kite, then around to see what the others were doing.