Obelisk of Blood (Through the Fire Book 4) by Benjamin Medrano

Author:Benjamin Medrano [Medrano, Benjamin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0CL9RN69C
Published: 2023-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

Blessed Aster was meditating in her tent, waiting for information. She wasn’t searching herself, as that would be a waste of her time. No, she was far better suited to her current role, which was likely why she’d been assigned it.

The central expanse of Palto was largely uninhabited. That was the case even before the Church of Larimos had taken over, if for rather different reasons. The nation had been relatively young, one which had formed despite their predecessors being destroyed by the undead in the Frozen Wastes. It was typical, in Aster’s opinion. Mortals tended to repeat the same mistakes over and over again… though she admitted it was possible she was doing the same thing.

Aster had no illusions about the nature of Larimos, and the fact her afterlife would be terrible. She also knew that what she did in the service of the church was horrible. The holy knights she’d fought had been quite taken aback by her admission, which she found terribly ironic. They’d tried to turn her against Larimos, of course, but they hadn’t understood her.

The church had saved her life. Even if Palto had been free of Larimos, Aster would have died young. The disease she’d suffered from had been passed down through her family, and wasn’t one any spell below fifth circle could heal. The children who were unfortunate enough to have it flare up simply died painfully within a handful of years, and the chances of her family having saved enough to heal her was laughable. Many of the churches of so-called light didn’t offer magic like that for free, not to a peasant in the middle of nowhere.

Larimos’s church had been different. In exchange for the promise to send her to the faith once she was grown, Aster had been healed of her disease and her family provided with enough food to get them through lean times. Beyond which, the power which she’d been granted was immense, and she’d decided that considering her life, she may as well continue in the church’s service. It granted power and security… at least until she was killed.

The Crimson Mother found her attitude fascinating, especially since Larimos had granted Aster further blessings.

As such, Aster didn’t object to being sent to hunt down the woman the Crimson Mother desired. She felt a little bad for the elf, but Aster would do her duty. An additional blessing or two would be nice, but those weren’t necessary to motivate her.

A whisper of knowledge flickered through one of her mental links in the moment before it snapped, and the very, very brief flicker of purple and ebony before the mutant hawk died told Aster who was responsible. It was also enough to inform Aster that one of her worst-case scenarios was in play… and she let out a heavy sigh as she opened her eyes and stood, reaching over to pick up her axe.

Exiting her tent, the guards outside saluted. Aster waved for them to stand at ease as she focused on one of them, a young man whose face paled as she looked down at him.

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