Echoes of Divinity: Book 13 of Painting the Mists by Patrick Laplante

Author:Patrick Laplante [Laplante, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Patrick G. Laplante
Published: 2021-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Atop the pillars, Merenthal and Glacial Blade faced off against a group of three demons. Glacial Blade was just a hothead, so Merenthal was their spokesperson.

“I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve your ire, but please stand down,” Merenthal said.

“I see that you’ve sided with the despicable humans,” the central figure said. Female. Stone Bull Tribe. “You owe us a favor, yet you stab us in the back? To think we trusted you.”

“We’re not trying to stab anyone in the back,” Merenthal explained. “We just got here. Tell me what happened.”

“How could you not know?” the central demon said. “A human came to our land. He raided the bones of our ancestors, plundered our entire Burning Oasis. The Three-Tiered Burning Lotus growing at its center was taken, and when our leader fought back, he slaughtered her. Only I, her daughter, remain.”

“Esteemed leader of the Stone Bull Tribe, are you perhaps speaking of the humans who’ve been cutting their way through the desert, provoking everything in their way?” Merenthal asked. “If so, we are chasing them. They are our enemies.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you?” their leader said. “You, who brought a human along to discuss? Better to get rid of the lot of you first. We’ll bury you with the leader of our tribe.”

The speaker and the other two demons accompanying her bore some resemblance to the monstrous demons below in that they, too, had horns on their heads. Their elemental nature was different, however. The demons below were aligned with fire while these three investiture-realm demons were aligned with earth. Their leader, clearly female despite being of the Stone Bull Tribe, wielded a large jade axe. Her horns were also jade at the tips, and she had a flowing head of platinum-colored hair. Despite her young age, she had already reached the middle of the investiture realm. The two older men flanking her were late-investiture-realm demons, and while they were clearly related in demonic species, their axes were rust-colored instead of jade.

“What can I do to alleviate the situation?” Merenthal asked.

“That’s easy,” the leader said. “Kill the humans in your group. That will be a sufficient apology.”

Merenthal’s expression darkened. “These people are with us. We’ve struck a bargain. Moreover, you’ve come charging at our group without a reasonable explanation. We can’t exactly let your clansmen destroy us, can we? Should we just wash our necks and wait for your axe?”

“There’s clearly no reasoning with the dumb cow,” Glacial Blade said. Merenthal shut his eyes, knowing what would come next. Why did he call her a cow of all things?

“What did you call me?” their leader said. “I’ll have you know that I, Lady Jadefall, am not a cow. I am a noble descendant of the Jade-Horned Bull King, and you have offended me. Due to your impertinence, you can forget resolving this peacefully.”

Glacial Blade drew his crystalline greatsword and slashed the air. A gust of frozen sword qi flew toward the trio. They easily blocked it. “Damned desert and its constriction,” Glacial Blade said.

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