Paladin of the Spirit by Marvin Knight

Author:Marvin Knight [Knight, Marvin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unblinking Eye LLC
Published: 2022-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

Princess Thalia

Running through the wilderness with a band of swashbuckling heroes and saving citizens of the Empire from being dragged into Hell by demons had been fun. Thalia thought those days would last forever, especially when the Torch of Heaven’s Grace seemed to grow with each victory.

When the demons and their collaborators were unmasked, it was hard for anyone to argue with Thalia’s words. So they believed her when she, an imperial princess, came before them and said the palace had fallen to demonic infiltrators and that the Order of the Rod was in league with them.

Heavens help them. They were actually following her lead.

She had so many followers by now that it was no longer practical for her to ride with the warriors to spread the word or fight demons where they stood. Now, her role was purely an administrative one. And that meant lots of meetings. Her life of adventure was behind her, and now she was back to being a princess.

“Your notes, princess.” Jezabel helpfully provided a small strip of parchment, which was dotted with the names of a few topics Thalia had to address in her upcoming speech to the ranking lieutenants in the Torch. What had started as just a name she’d plucked from the air was now fast catching on, and all of a sudden, they were an order as real as the Order of the Rod.

Most of their members were merely peasant farmers with fire in their hearts and the will to serve their Empire burning in their fervent eyes. Still, under the leadership of their more experienced fighters, all those volunteers were being quickly forged into a proper army. There was still a shortage of sigil-wielders in all groups, but they’d found that even the Sinful Servants died if enough regular humans charged them all at once.

The lieutenants she was waiting for filed in one after another, taking Thalia’s measure as she took theirs.

“Pardon me, princess, but do you know when we’ll get to meet with Darren Heavengrace?” a boy asked. He was barely a man, but he was the firstborn son of one of the local lords. While Thalia couldn’t win his father over, bringing the son into their order was just as good. It meant her order was well on its way to a safe base of operations within the Empire. And when one lord was openly friendly to her cause, others would be as well.

At that point, her growing movement would shift from forest band to rebellion, and she would have the means to retake the palace and save her father from the demons around him.

The only trouble was much of the draw came from who Thalia had been claiming was the actual leader of the Torch of Heaven’s Grace. His name was in their title, after all. And he was a king, so having him at the head of the order gave it legitimacy few others could rival. Even Thalia herself didn’t have as much of a claim to power as he did.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.