The Pact of the White Blade Knights by Barbara Russell

Author:Barbara Russell [Russell, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Me
Published: 2019-10-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

ALEXIMANUS TROD DOWN the aisle in the dark temple. The desecrated ground singed the skin of his bare feet as if he were walking on hot coals. The temple had been a church once, a lovely cathedral rising with shimmering white walls in the middle of an emerald meadow right outside London.

Then five years ago, a new master of the sin-breathers had risen to power by slaughtering seven young women on the altar in a brutal ritual, and the church hadn’t seen a devote since then. Even its walls had turned grey and dull, half choked by poison ivy and bindweed. After that, the new master killed his predecessor and recruited Aleximanus. Recruited. Tortured and blackmailed him was more like it.

People steered clear of the temple’s ground, muttering prayers and signing themselves when they walked past. At night, the villagers said the screams of those girls could be heard, mayhap crying out for justice since their murderer had never been caught. He wished the culprit had been found. Now Aleximanus would know who the Hierophant was.

The church was no place for the pure of heart. Only dark souls were welcomed here, and he fit the bill. His black robe fluttered around his ankles when he arrived at the unholy altar.

Black stains still covered the marble steps. No matter how much they’d been scrubbed, brushed, and washed, they never went away. An eternal reminder of primary evil, the evil that corrupted everything that was good and innocent just for the sake of destroying it. That fit the Hierophant’s bill.

Even rats and snakes avoided the church, preferring a dirty sewer to this profane place. Aleximanus hated it himself. The walls reeked of blood as if the ritual had been performed moments ago, and evil impregnated the air like a disease, churning his stomach and souring his mouth. But it was the place where he could summon his master, and sometimes he wished the Hierophant didn’t answer his calls like the Monk refused to appear to Tyon.

He took a knee in front of the altar. The only ray of light during the summoning was receiving news of his daughter. Not that the Hierophant said much about her. She’s been held somewhere for the past five years. Hell, she would be a woman now, and he hadn’t seen her growing up. He’d missed so much of her life.

Bowing his head, he touched the floor with his fingertips. “Ex luce, ad tenebrem. Ex sole, ad umbram.”

From the light, to the darkness. From the sun, to the shadow.

A circle of fire erupted around him, and he forced himself to not recoil. The Hierophant wouldn’t approve of his weakness and punish him through his daughter, flogging her as it’d happened once. The Hierophant had been sure he’d heard her screams. She hadn’t begged the Hierophant to stop though. Kaela was like her mother, will of steel and strength of stone.

The tall flames flickered and shed a crimson light over the Grecian columns that lined the walls. Yells echoed into the domed ceiling.

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