Crucible of Chaos by Sebastien de Castell

Author:Sebastien de Castell [de Castell, Sebastien]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-06T18:30:00+00:00

PART THE FIFTH

THE SIGILS OF WARDING

The next sigils must be placed with great speed upon the skin of the arms and legs, lest those who come to devour the spirit take the body as well, and the entire ritual must begin again with a new sacrifice. What you seek is a pure vessel, stripped of every sin as well as of any will of its own. Only then can the great work truly begin . . .

CHAPTER 25

THE INFIRMARY

‘We were summoned . . .’

Those words haunted Estevar as he carried the blood-soaked and unconscious Strigan from the ruins of the statuary through the cloister’s endless colonnades, past the cathedral-like chapter house and finally into a vast building of dressed stone which Brother Agneta claimed was the infirmary.

‘It’s more of a hospital for the entire island,’ the inquisitor informed him, leading the way while Estevar struggled beneath the Wolf-King’s weight – a more slender figure than himself, to be sure, but solidly built of lean muscle and bone, and a greater burden than his own injuries could bear. There was so much blood drenching the man’s naked skin, it was like holding on to a hundred and sixty-pound eel. Worse, every stuttering breath was a warning that it might be the lapsed monk’s last.

‘Not far now,’ Agneta promised, turning down an unlit passageway where every shifting shadow set Estevar’s frayed nerves on edge. ‘We’ve had to conserve lantern oil,’ she explained. ‘Most of the supplies and food are in the Sustenacum Tower and we’ve yet to wrest that one from those delusional Trumpeters. I swear, they’ve renamed the Vigilance Tower three times in the past week, always for some new god they insist is about to arise from the ruins of the statuary like a babe ejected from the womb.’

‘You don’t place much stock in the prospect of a new divine pantheon for Tristia?’ Estevar stopped, leaning against the arched wooden frame supporting the passageway in the hope of catching his breath. The darkness was so absolute that he couldn’t make out his guide properly and was left to imagine the pistol that was surely still in her right hand, reloaded with powder and lead ball, the wheel spring wound and ready to fire. Were they to be allies now that demons stalked the abbey grounds? Or was the old inquisitor merely using him as a packhorse to get Strigan – the only person who might be able to shed light on how such monstrous creatures were made to manifest in this once holy sanctuary – to the safety of the infirmary before she put an end to the meddling magistrate once and for all?

‘I am unconcerned either way,’ she said, gesturing for him to get a move on before continuing, ‘Should the old gods return, or new ones take their place, I will happily serve them – with humility. What I won’t do is claim to know their will and raise up an army to rain chaos down on a nation already weakened from the last war.

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