Lies Ripped Open (28 page)

“Did you hear, he’s meant to be Hellequin?”

“I doubt it. Hellequin could breathe fire and tear the souls from the wicked. This guy’s a sorcerer who is about as weak as a kitten after being shot with that spine. He probably used the name to make himself feel big.”

Ellie and I reached the mouth of the room, where both occupants had their backs to us. I motioned for her to move toward the woman, while I took the man, not out of any sense of chivalry but because the man was closer to me. I crept behind him and snapped up quickly, grabbing him around the neck and dragging him to the ground. I didn’t see what Ellie did, but I heard the growl, the gasp, and then silence.

“Move and you die, painfully,” I told him, and he went limp.

I released the Reaver and pulled him up, where he saw Ellie, who held his Reaver friend by the throat two feet off the floor.

“One of you will talk,” I said. “The one who does first, lives. Where is Felix?”

“Doncaster Minster,” the woman said immediately.

I drove a blade of air into the man’s heart. I didn’t know what he was, but I was pretty certain that it wasn’t going to be fun for him. He leaned forward and then pitched to the floor.

“Why are you all so easy to overcome?” I asked. “I thought Reavers were the elite who couldn’t be Harbingers; so far none of you have really been too much bother.”

“Harbingers? We never went to being Harbingers, we’re just people who believe that Avalon should be under new management. We’re a group who believed in the Reavers’ ideals of power and the destruction of our enemies.”

Ellie let the woman drop to the ground. “Who
are
your enemies?” she asked.

“Whoever we’re told they are. Traitors, those who would defile Avalon with their lies and false promises. Those who make Avalon weak.”

“And I’m on that list?” I asked. “As is Felix?”

“Felix betrayed us, and together you were responsible for the destruction of the Reavers as they were. As they still shou
ld be.”

“And what did you do for Avalon before you decided to join the Reavers?”

“SOA,” she said proudly.

“Same as your friend there?” Ellie asked.

The woman nodded. “You know you’ll never be able to stop the Reavers, not truly. Doesn’t matter how much you attack us, there will always be those who are unhappy with Avalon, unhappy at the people in power and how they squander it,
running
a once great organization into the ground. We will not go away quietly.”

“We found the others,” Remy said as he entered the room. “None of them would talk to us though, so we had to dispose of them. If all Reavers are like this, we shouldn’t be too worried, they couldn’t conquer an anthill.”

“These are just the dregs,” I said turning back to the woman. “What’s your name?”

“Sophie.”

“How old are you, Sophie?”

“Seventy-eight. I’m a sorcerer.”

“Not even old enough to have your second element. Whoever is in charge is taking those who are easy to influence and getting them to do the shit jobs, like guard this place and search through paper. They told you that you’d have a place in this new world, didn’t they?”

“Power,” she said, a twinkle in her eyes.

“Power,” I repeated. “You were never going to get power. You were going to be sacrificed as soon as possible. They only left you down here because they assumed you could keep us all locked up without much hassle, but you couldn’t even do that. The truly powerful ones have gone to Avalon, haven’t they?”

She didn’t move, until Ellie grabbed her throat once more. Then she couldn’t nod enough. “The griffin is dealing with Felix.”

“Should we get rid of her?” Remy asked.

“No, she’s going to come with us. She’s going to watch her great and powerful Reavers torn asunder.”

“Felix will already be dead,” Sophie declared. “They took him to the Minster to torture him.”

“For what? And why a church?”

Sophie shrugged. “No one was in, so they thought it would make a fitting final resting place for Felix. And he knows things.”

“Names, is that it? Felix knows the names of the people who are running the show. But why would they care if you’re going to go to Avalon and show the world who you are anyway?”

I could tell from her expression that Sophie had no idea.

“You find any useful weapons in your travels?” I asked Alan and Remy.

They both smiled. “You’re going to want to see this.”

When we’d first arrived at the cavern and Ellie had told me she’d found enough weapons to start a small war, I assumed she was exaggerating. She wasn’t. If anything she undersold it. Weapons adorned every wall: swords, glaives, shields, guns, and even a bazooka in one corner.

I didn’t fancy blowing up a large part of the city, so I settled for a nagamaki, a Japanese sword with a two-foot-long blade attached to a handle of about the same length. It was a bit like a katana, but with an extra-long handle, or tsuka.

The tsuka on the nagamaki was wrapped in red and black silk, and as I picked it up, I knew that whoever had made it had done so with utmost care and devotion.

“Never seen one of those before,” Ellie said as she stood beside me.

“They were used to fight people on horses,” I told her. “I once fought a general who used one.”

Ellie placed a finger against the flat of the blade, and quickly withdrew it. “Silver.”

I nodded. “I thought as much. Don’t need silver to kill a griffin, but it can’t hurt.” I picked up the sheath and placed the blade inside. “Everyone ready?”

Remy had found his sabre, which he was cleaning in the corner, occasionally mumbling that whoever had touched her last had to be removed from her. Yeah, some people talk to their
weapons
. Yes, it’s weird, but that doesn’t mean I don’t
understand it.

Alan had chosen a pair of M1911 pistols, and was busy loading the magazines. The nickel shone as if new, and I wondered if Alan had stolen all of the things in this cavern.

“I’m done,” Ellie said.

“Not taking anything?”

She raised the deadly claws on her hands. “Don’t need
anything
else.”

I turned to Sophie. “There’s going to be a lot of killing soon. While I’m not above killing people because they’re in the way, or because they could cause me problems in the long run, I’d rather leave someone alive for Elaine to talk to. That person is going to be you.”

“I’d rather you killed me,” she said, a newly ignited fire in her eyes.

“I know, but Elaine will have questions. So your options are to be handcuffed in the room with all the food, or the one with the dead body of your friend, Dick.

“Dick?” she questioned.

“Oh, Richard, I called him Dick.”

“Richard is dead? He was in charge of those of us who were placed down here. He was a favorite of Kelly’s. You’d best hope to whatever god you believe in that
she
doesn’t find you once she discovers what you’ve done. She’ll tear you apart.”

“Good to know,” I explained. “Now choose.”

“The food.”

Alan tossed me a sorcerer’s band that he picked up from a box beside him, along with a pair of extra-long chain handcuffs. I took Sophie through to the food storage and handcuffed her to some piping that led down from the sink. She had enough room to move about and eat as she needed.

She didn’t fight as I applied the sorcerer’s band. “Someone will come for you soon. But you have enough food and water here for months, so don’t worry.”

“You took away my magic.”

“I’m not in the habit of leaving captured sorcerers to their own devices when they want nothing more than to see me dead. You’ll do without your magic for a while.”

“I hope they kill you.”

“You’d best not, otherwise you’re probably not going to be happy to see them when they realized we let you live.”

“You can’t destroy an idea,” she shouted at me as I walke
d away.

“Watch me.”

CHAPTER
28

T
he four of us left the cavern and made our way back up the ladder to the outside. I’d expected to have to fight, or at least dispose of people placed to watch the exit, but there was no one there. Either the Reavers were so overconfident that they didn’t think we’d be a threat once we were in manacles, or they were incompetent. Either way, they were going to pay for it.

It was a good thing is was nighttime, as I imagined that a humanoid fox with a sabre almost the size of himself, a werewolf, and someone carrying a giant sword might have had an adverse reaction. In fact out of the four of us, Alan was the least likely to cause a commotion, which was concerning in and of itself.

We hurried back toward Doncaster Minster, thankfully avoiding anyone on the journey, and quickly scaled the stone wall, using the trees and shadows to stay hidden a few hundred feet from the church.

“You smell anything?” I asked Remy and Ellie.

Both took a big sniff and paused. “Blood,” they said together.

“Where from?”

“Inside the Minster,” Ellie said.

“I need you three to scout the outside. I’m going in to find Felix.”

“I’m coming with you,” Alan said. “Not a request, Nate.”

“Okay, but getting Felix out is part ‘A’ of this plan. Killing the bastards who took him can wait.”

“Agreed.”

Alan didn’t wait, and took off toward the Minster at a steady run. I cursed under my breath and caught him up as we reached the building itself.

“There are two entrances,” he explained. “One on the opposite side of the building to here, and one around the corner; we need to go through the one closest as it’s not used. It should be locked up.”

“How do you know this?”

“I’ve spent a lot of time in the city. I like it here. Everyone is nice, people don’t know who I am, and it’s easy enough to get away from here quickly if I need to. Besides, I like architecture. And this is a beautiful building, so if we can get Felix back without destroying it, I’d be grateful. I had to pay to get it fixed once; I don’t feel like doing it again.”

“I promise I won’t break the church. For a moment there, I thought you cared more about Felix than money.” I turned away.

Alan grabbed my arm. “Apart from Fiona, there are very few people I care about more than money. Felix is one of them. You asked me to keep him safe, and I did. And I grew to like the old bastard. Even helped him with his research.”

“How?”

Alan had the appearance of someone who had said something he wished he hadn’t. “Later,” he said quickly, walking past me and around the corner to the large double doors.

I tried the metal handle; it was locked, just as Alan had said. I could have cut through, or around, the lock with fire magic, but anyone inside who wasn’t Felix was certainly going to hear it. Instead I placed my hand against the lock and concentrated, allowing my air magic to flow into the lock.

Using magic to unlock a door is hard work. It basically means I have to use my magic to figure out where all of the notches on the key would be, and then use the exact amount of pressure to turn them all at once. Fortunately, the lock on the door was old and within a minute it was open. It would have been quicker, but Alan wouldn’t stop asking me if I was done.

I stood and slowly pushed open the door, which thankfully didn’t creak too loudly. Alan and I stepped into the church and I closed the door. Alan held one of the guns in his hand. A sorcerer was difficult to kill, and without a body of water nearby Alan couldn’t turn into his water form even to escape, let alone to summon anything.

We moved under an arch and behind some nearby pews. Glancing over the top of them gave us a great view all the way from where we were to the far end of the Minster. Beautiful stained glass adorned every window, with one large piece at the far end of the Minster just behind a sizeable organ, which was opposite an ornate pulpit. A bell tower that sat above the front of the church had scaffolding under it.

“Can you see Felix anywhere?” I asked.

Alan shook his head. “There’s a room up behind the
pulpit
. Unless they’ve put him under the floor, he’ll probably be in there.”

“Under the floor?”

“It’s how the place was heated. These floorboards come up—”
he stopped. “You’re not interested in this are you?”

“Not right now,” I admitted through gritted teeth.

We crept along the outside of the pews, pausing after each of the four massive marble columns that sat between every few rows, until we reached the door behind the pulpit.

I placed my hand against the door and allowed air magic to flow into the room beyond. The magic would flow back out, giving me a signal whenever it found something alive. I’ve used it several times in the past, but only in small confined spaces, it’s not strong enough to use for an entire church, which is why I didn’t use it before I picked the lock outside.

I got one ping. I grabbed the door handle and turned it, pushing the door open to reveal a tied and battered Felix sitting in a chair in front of a desk. His face was a mask of dried blood, and his head hung loosely.

For a moment I feared the worst, and then he groaned and opened his eyes. “Nate?” he said, his voice weak.

His hands had been tied behind him with cable ties, and someone had put a sorcerer’s band on him. The ties had bitten into the skin around his wrists, and blood had begun to pool on the floor behind the chair. Other than a lot of bruising and cuts, the only serious thing was a knife wound to his ribs.

“Silver blade,” he told me.

“We’re going to get you out of here,” Alan said as I cut through the bonds and Felix sagged forward onto him.

“They’re going to come back. You need to go.”

“Not leaving without you,” Alan assured him.

We each put one of his arms over our shoulders and we walked Felix to the door.

“Stop,” he said. “I need to tell you something first.”

“We’ll discuss it when we’re free,” I told him.

“No,” Felix snapped, with as much force as he could manage. “Now.”

Alan and I shared a glance and then lowered Felix into the chair near the door.

“Okay, you don’t have long,” Alan said.

“I’m dying, lads,” Felix said softly. “The knife would have been okay if I didn’t have this thing on me.” He raised his arm to show us the sorcerer’s band. “But the blade was coated with that damn spider venom. I can feel it tearing me up inside. In a few hours I’ll be gone.”

“We’ll get that fucking band off, and you’ll be fine,” I assured him, glancing down at my own illuminated glyphs.

“You know I won’t be,” he said. “I’ve been in here for several hours already with this wound.”

“We should have gotten here sooner,” Alan said.

“And then you’d be dead too,” Felix snapped. “Damn it, Alan, I’ve taught you better than to do self-blaming nonsense.”

“What do you want to tell us?” I asked.

“We don’t have time for this,” Alan said.

“I made contact with . . . mostly criminals,” he winced in pain and took a few seconds to control his breathing. “They infiltrated the Reavers, feeding me details about what they were doing. They tricked a high-ranking member of my location. I took control of his mind and used him as a way to ferret out more members.”

“How did you manage that?” I asked.

“Ah, I broke his mind and made him believe that one of my allies was his trusted lieutenant and that all information should be shared with him. Took me a long time, and took a lot out of me, but he was invaluable in getting me information on the higher ranks, people like Kelly Jensen.”

What he’d just described went against Avalon’s laws. He’d destroyed a mind, and if anyone discovered that, he’d be executed for it. Fortunately for him, I had no intention of telling anyone.

“Okay, the rest can wait,” Alan said.

“Just listen,” Felix said, his tone hard. “This is important, if I don’t make it, you need to know. Liz Williams was one such ally. As was her husband, and a man she helped before he was
murdered
. Fiona was another. Alan here another. They all searched into Reaver activity and got information back to me.

“But someone began removing them from circulation, one at a time. They’ve killed the Reaver I’d taken control of, along with anyone who worked for him. After that they started going after my allies. They had prepared to attack Avalon, but the discovery that one of them was feeding me information made them wait. They needed to check that I hadn’t taken anyone else. It’s why I only took low-level members after that.”

“How’d they discover that you’d done this?” I asked.

“I’ve been wondering that myself. Not until now. Not until they tried to kill you too, Nathan.”

“Did someone betray you?”

“No. I was stupid. They discovered that the Reaver I was using was betraying them, and they used someone with mind magic to tear the information free from his head. It led them to my involvement, and the start of this whole thing. I set this off, Nate. I’m so sorry.” His words appeared to have taken even more out of him and he slumped forward.

“I know of a rune that might bypass the sorcerer’s band, it could allow you to use your magic to keep yourself alive.”

“Then do it,” Alan snapped. “And let’s fucking leave.”

“Or it could backfire and kill him in an even worse manner than the venom.”

“No,” Felix declared. He sounded exhausted and in pain, but even so, he put a lot of force behind that one word. “You’re
talking
about a dwarven rune. How do you know it?”

“Long story.”

“I’m too weak. Let’s just get to my home, I don’t want to die out here.”

“You’re not dying anywhere,” Alan told him. “You’re too damn stubborn.”

Alan and I helped Felix stand and opened the door only to find a group of people waiting for us, standing around the pews. There were ten in all, including Mortimer, the man who’d killed the Williamses. The griffin who’d infected me with the jorōgumo venom was sitting on the edge of one of the pews, his massive wings folded behind him. I felt a sudden urge to cut the bastard in half.

“I see you found the old fucker,” the griffin said with a laugh. He slammed the butt of his spear into the wooden floor, which cracked from the impact. “I was surprised you all got free from the group we’d left down below for you. You were meant to wait for people to come and kill you.”

“I’m not very patient,” I said. “I figured I’d find those responsible rather than wait for them to come to me.”

“Are you going to give us the option to surrender or die?” the griffin asked with a chuckle.

I shook my head. “Nope. You’re just all going to die.
Painfully
for the most part.”

I couldn’t risk a fight. There was no telling what would
happen
with Felix so close. It would have been too easy for him to get hurt.

The griffin snapped his fingers, the double doors opened, and Sophie walked inside, followed by two large men. She had the smile of someone who’d suddenly decided they were in control of a situation.

“My dearest Sophie,” the griffin said. “I’m glad you weren’t killed.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake. How’d she get free?” I whispered to Alan.

Alan shrugged. “I may have forgotten to put the runes back when we left the cavern.”

“Not a great time to be forgetful,” I seethed.

“Because one more bad guy is going to make all the
difference
.”

“What if they’ve destroyed Felix’s notes?”

“We have Felix. I’m sure he can tell us.”

“Are you two done?” the griffin asked. “I’m not interrupting am I?”

“I just realized, I don’t know your name,” I said to him.

“Corath,” he said with pride. “I’m happy you’ll know the name of your killer. Could you please call your werewolf and fox friend in?”

“I don’t see why I should,” I said.

“Because if you don’t, those two men who came here with Sophie will go out into the city. You don’t want to know what their idea of a good time is.”

“It’s okay, Nate,” Remy said as he stepped through the open door with Ellie behind him. “We’ve been listening in.”

“Excellent. Everyone is here,” Corath said. “It’s so much
better
than random bloodshed. We’re not monsters, after all. We want what’s best for Avalon, and therefore best for all of us.”

“You want what’s best for you,” Remy countered as he walked over to stand beside me. Even though he had to walk past the Reavers, no one tried to stop him; clearly they were very
confident
in their position and didn’t see him as a threat. More fool them. “Avalon doesn’t factor into it.”

“Believe what you like, rodent.”

“Rodent?” Remy snapped. “Fuck you, Tweety.”

Corath’s wings flickered briefly, as he snarled.

“So, now that we’re all here,” Ellie interrupted, “what are you going to do? This is a pretty small enclosure. Killing us in here will result in a long fight first.”

“We’re all going to go down to the cavern again. And then you’re all going to die.”

“I thought I had to be kept alive,” I pointed out.

“You’re too much trouble alive. You can die now, I’m sure I’ll be forgiven when I give your head to those in charge. Speaking of which, I have a gift for you.” He snapped his fingers at one of the two men who’d come in with Sophie, and he darted from the building.

His glee at those words turned my stomach. I knew something bad was about to happen.

The man returned a few moments later with two men and a woman in tow. The man and one of the women were in their late forties, while the second woman was considerably older. They all appeared scared and confused.

“This is the Father who works here,” Corath explained, “along with his wife and an unfortunate member of his
congregation
. Sophie, please escort the human filth into the room behind Nathan and his companions.”

Sophie did as she was told, gaining a growl from Ellie that made her jump as she walked past us.

The man who’d brought them in handed Corath a leather sack. “One last thing. Nathan, are you aware that we tracked you? That Kelly used your blood to discover where you were?”