Chapter 16: The Lawbreaker’s Rage

Note: Thanks to WRC264 for beta reading this. Barg

My blood ran cold. I moved the moment Bryce drew his blade. That steely rasp of metal on leather galvanized me into action. I bolted from the cloak of living darkness and rushed across the room. The sword stroke missed Illina.

But the paladin had seized her arm. She gasped, struggling to get free. Her hand drew her dagger as death plunged for her heart. In a final burst of speed, I threw myself at the Paladin. I flew at him, crashing into him.

His blade punched into my guts. I felt it passing through my stomach with cold fire. A numb rawness. He grunted and then threw me back. I crashed on top of her, the sword ripping out of my guts, cutting more skin.

My entrails spilled out.

“Barg!” Illina screamed. She squirmed and kicked beneath me. She wiggled free. “No, no, Barg!”

My entire lower body had gone cold. Numb. The shock of my injury coursed through me. I stared down at my torn-open toga. The gray cloth stained bright red. The strength left my body. I struggled to move, but agony ripped through me.

I howled in pain.

“No, no!” She gasped and then darted from me, ducking another sword swipe. She rushed towards a plinth. “Barg, please!”

The paladin rushed after her. She grabbed Biaute’s Virgin Juices. She whirled around in triumph, holding the elixir in her hand only for the paladin’s gauntlet-clad fist to smash what she held. Glass burst. The virgin juices splashed to the ground.

“No!” she screamed, fury on her face. “You killed him!” She stabbed at the paladin with her dagger.

I could only watch. I was growing weaker and weaker by the moment. The blood pumped out of me. A thousand years of life, and this was where it ended. I had saved her. I had kept her alive. I hadn’t done that for her mother.

“Hathila,” I croaked as the cold devoured my body. It spread down my arms and legs. The pain in my guts faded. The world grew black.

Would it be enough? Would she escape the paladin with her life? I hoped it would be. I closed my eyes. A heavy weight dragged me down. Illina’s shouts grew distant. They came from so far away. And then they were gone.

My soul lifted free of my body. I rose and rose to the astral realm. Be safe, Illina, I thought as I passed from this world to the next. I love you.

Illina

“You shit-gobbling, nut-sucking, treacherous bastard!” I snarled at the paladin and threw my dagger at his face.

He battered it aside with his vambrace.

The pussy cream dripped from my fingers. The last bit of chance I had. I dove past the paladin and rolled up into a crouch. I ran to Barg. He didn’t move. He stared up at the sky sightless. I fell to my knees beside him, so much blood in the air.

“No, no, no!” I shoved the virgin juices into his mouth. “Barg! Don’t go, Barg! Don’t leave me!”

Footsteps clattered.

It wasn’t working. Why wasn’t it working?

“You can’t be dead, Barg!” Tears down spilled my cheeks.

A shadow fell over me.

I threw myself back. The sword slammed into Barg’s body, damaging him worse. My lover didn’t make a sound. Didn’t flinch. He lay limp. Dead. The horror consumed me. I trembled. Such a fury pounded through my circulatory system. My heart beat with a rhythm of black fury. I drew another dagger and glared at the feckless paladin.

He had a cold smile on his lips.

Stefan Halian

Shock arrested me.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. I hadn’t even been watching them. I had been staring at this big diamond. It had been showing me all these glories I would win. All these great triumphs. I had stood transfixed and then the shouting had seized my attention.

I had wrenched my gaze away to find Barg falling to the ground bleeding. I gaped as Sir Bryce swung his sword at Illina. What had happened. Words echoed in my head, shouted from the paladin. Lawbreakers had to be punished. Only one punishment.

He’d tried to execute Illina.

The moment he was done using her, he had betrayed her. This fury rippled through me. I trembled. This couldn’t stand. I wouldn’t let such terrible behavior go unchallenged. As Illina darted to Barg’s side, the shattered potion dripping from her fingers, I acted.

I pulled out a vial of my angel’s pussy juices. Even down here, she protected me. Warded me. I downed it in three deep gulps. I tasted her sweet passion. It warmed my belly and gave me the magic to seize the paladin and stop his rampage.

I lashed out with air. I thickened it around him and seized his sword arm swinging for Illina. It yanked him short. He whipped his head around and glared at me. Fury blazed in his eyes. He looked mad. Possessed by rage.

He jerked hard and ripped himself out of the air’s grip. He had such strength. I compressed the air into a wide baton and slammed it into him. I struck him hard and threw him back. He hit the ground with a clatter. At the same moment, I grabbed his sword with more air and ripped it from his momentarily loosened grip, hurtling it across the room.

“You attack me, too, lawbreaker?” Sir Bryce asked and something like pleasure crossed his face. Joy. He was happy that I attacked him.

“I’m defending my ally!” I snarled, fury surging through me. “Your ally, too. Or so I thought. You brought her down here, used her, and now you seek to dispose of her.”

“She has committed many crimes,” Sir Bryce growled as he went to stand.

I slammed air into him and drove him back down. His breastplate, already dented, compressed more, prying up on the side. I trembled as I faced this man. We were supposed to be on the same side. United in stopping the man trying to kill my father.

“This is madness, Sir Bryce!” I growled. “You hired her to break in here! What does that make you?”

“To steal from a thief. But that doesn’t excuse her other crimes.”

“So you would kill me!” Illina hissed. “Kill my Barg!”

“Yes.” the paladin said coldly. “Every lawbreaker deserves to be punished.” His eyes fixed on me. “You enjoyed my wife. You slept with her knowing she swore herself to me!”

I blinked at that. “What? Monica? You said it was—”

“LAWBREAKER!”

Pain exploded through me. An agony wracked my entire body. I collapsed to the ground, trembling, shuddering. I didn’t understand where this came from. It swept through my entire body. I bucked and spasmed on the ground as it coursed through me.

I screamed and screamed as it blazed through my veins. It burrowed through my body. I lay helpless against it as I was punished. I could feel it. Lagu’s punishment wreathed me. I had transgressed with his wife.

I had broken some vow.

Through the pain, I realized the paladin had set me up. He had pushed Monica at me just so he could disable me when he needed it. I thrashed on the floor as he rose to his feet. I had to do something, but my entire body spasmed.

I howled my voice raw.

Sir Bryce

Satisfaction rippled through me at inflicting that pain on Stefan. I savored his screams as he suffered his punishment for sleeping with Monica. I could do the same to Barg if he still lived. His blood stained my sword.

I looked around for my blade. I had a thief to kill.

She shrieked and threw something at me. A clay ball struck my chest. A burst of cloying smoke erupted. I caught a whiff of chamomile. A sleep bomb. The drowsy gas already permeated my veins. Illina faced me, delight on her face, her dagger in her hand. She would carve me up while I lay in a stupor.

“Lagu, cleanse my body of the lawbreaker’s toxins,” I prayed, pushing through the burning exhaustion. The blessing devoured more of my will. Agony suffused me as I forced the Goddess to once again uphold our bargain.

She must hate me for it, but she kept her word.

I walked through the smoke and picked up my sword. Illina hissed in frustration. She held her dagger up, fury in her eyes. She wouldn’t run. Oh, no, she wanted me dead. She wanted to punish me for her lover.

I rolled my shoulders and smiled.

Leywife Monica

I knelt by the pool, staring down at the tranquil waters. It was so dark in the depths. What was happening in there? What dangers did my noble husband, Illina, Stefan, and Barg face? What sort of dastardly traps had Cernere, Goddess of Thieves, hidden in her Vault?

Her cunning was a thing of legend.

I wanted to see them all emerge smiling and triumphant, the Ambrosia in hand. Illina would be bragging about her skill, excited that she robbed the Goddess of Thieves. My husband would be outwardly stoic, not showing his emotions save in his eyes. They would be brimming in his triumph. His success would blaze in those eyes.

He wouldn’t say it, but I would know.

Then we would march out to the dread Black Spire and await the Lawbreaker’s arrival. He couldn’t hide from us forever. The magics he used to cloak him from divination mattered not when he had to be in a specific place at a specific time.

The poor priests and their wives would be avenged. My friends—the man I was supposed to marry—would be able to rest. I clasped my hands together, closed my eyes, and began my prayers to Pater, Father of All.

Father of my child.

“Pater, watch over Illina and Barg, Stefan and my Bryce,” I prayed. “Let your paternal protection of your children cloak them in the dangers of the Black Vault. We all are fighting to defend you in our own way. Ward them in your love. Shield them with your compassion. Father of All, show mercy upon those fighting hard against the evils of this world.”

“Yes,” whispered Alloria.

I looked up to see the Valyan woman standing over me. She squirmed as she stared down at the waters, her large breasts rising and falling. She bit her lower lip. Her eyes held the fever of lust and desire.

“He’ll come back,” I told her. “So will the others.”

Alloria snapped her gaze down to me, this hopeless sort of look appearing in her eyes. “What has these magics done to me? I’m all out of sorts.”

My lips spread in a smile. “That happens to us all, does it not? When we get entangled in the lives of others.”

She gave a bitter, almost hopeless laugh. “Entangled is definitely the word for it, isn’t it. All knotted up with magic and miracles. I should find that mage who enchanted me. Maybe he can do something about it.”

“You would have to travel to Esh-Esh, yes?” I asked.

“I suppose.” She drew in a deep breath. “Which means getting away from Bryce and ... God, I need him right now. Just knowing he might die is making it worse. Makes me want to dive in there, get into the Vault, and pounce on him.”

“Yes,” snarled Ahlona.

The angel paced the pool, her wings wrapped tight about her body. Worry smothered all other emotions from her face. Her halo had almost dimmed to nothing. She passed us by on her circuit. I wanted to hug her.

“Pater will watch over his son,” I told her. “Everything is going to be fine. I can feel it.” I smiled, staring at the pool. “You’ll see. They’ll emerge victorious.

Illina

“Of course you can endure a chamomile bomb,” I spat. “That’s so annoying.”

Sir Backstabbing Cocksucker faced me with a stony, implacable face. Fury pumped in the rhythm of my heart. My grief almost smothered the clicking gears of my mind. My Barg couldn’t be dead. I had known him most of my life. Looked up to him. My first crush. My first love.

My only love!

I gripped my knife as Sir Cuntbucket marched at me. My eyes flicked over his armor. Saw my opening. The dent in his armor. That crease that had opened up, leaving his side exposed. I shifted on the balls of my feet, my body focusing on the strike.

He rushed forward in a clatter of armor. His sword slashed down at me. I twisted right and darted into his guard. I slammed my arm forward in a burst of speed, pushing my body beyond even its limits. The point buried deep into his side.

The crossguard hilt smacked into his flesh. Blood boiled over the wound and soaked my hand. A smile spread on my lips. I twisted the dagger, waiting to hear Sir Putridcock cry out in pain. For Sir Shriveldick to scream out his agony and suffer for what he did to—

He seized my wrist in his free hand. A crushing grip. His implacable face stared at me as he growled, the pain bubbling in his voice from my dagger buried in his guts, but the injury did nothing to blunt his strength. His sword slashed at me and buried into my side.

I gasped at the pain shooting through my nervous system. Blood spilled over my side. I glanced down in horror as his sword penetrated three inches into my side. He’d cut through major blood vessels. Into the organs that kept my body alive.

I twisted the dagger in his guts again as anger surged through me. I felt the compromise to my circulatory system. He wrenched his sword out of me. Blood spilled out of me faster, the pressure dropping, making it harder for my heart to pump.

I was dying. That pissed me off even more.

Stefan Halian

The pain suffused me. Every bit of me burned. Every nerve ending blazed with torturous agony. I couldn’t think straight. But I had to. I brimmed with power. Illina gasped in pain. Bryce’s sword had slammed deep into her side. Her blue blood spilled out.

“Bas ... tard...” I spat out and pushed myself up. I couldn’t let this pain consume me. I would overcome the injustice punishing my body. The pain of law being prosecuted.