Firebrand

Chapter 331: The Second Touch

Chapter 331: The Second Touch

The Second Touch

An insistent knocking continued until Eleanor finally opened her door to see a fire acolyte and a mageknight outside. The former looked stressed, the latter seemed annoyed. "What is happening?"

"I wish I knew," Maximilian muttered.

"As I told you," Martel interjected, "tonight is a full moon, and I think the maleficar has taken another victim. I also think I know where he is hiding, but I don't want to go after him alone."

"See? We have been here before, I feel," the young nobleman remarked.

Eleanor frowned, digesting the information. "What about the teachers? Surely they are better equipped to handle something like this."

"The moon is rising in the sky. Even if they believe me, by the time we're done convincing them and they actually get going, it'll be too late," Martel argued.

Standing behind him, Maximilian gave a shrug. "He will not be dissuaded, our northern boy."

Eleanor bit her lip. "Let me get into armour. Meet me in the entrance hall."

Martel nodded, a little relieved. "Yes."

"I guess I am fetching my mail as well," Maximilian sighed.

***

Soon after, the trio made their way towards the merchant quarter. "Where exactly are we going?" asked Maximilian.

"There's an entrance that leads to the sewers," Martel replied.

"You must be joking!"

"No. That's how he moves around the city with his victims undetected. Below ground."

"But his first victims were in the copper lanes," Eleanor pointed out. "The little girl, and later that woman. She was killed in her own home. He didn't move her anywhere."

"The sewers don't connect to that part of the city, so he had to stay there," Martel explained. "After that, he went underground to target other neighbourhoods. The inquisitors agree with me. They've searched the sewers as well looking for him."

"Well if they cannot find him, how are we supposed to?" Maximilian asked brusquely.

"Wait, what do you mean 'as well'?" asked Eleanor.

Increasing his pace, Martel avoided looking behind him at his companions. "He's holed up in the one place they won't look. The catacombs. And yes, I've been trying to find him. But I had to give up just like them. I wasn't strong enough."

"Strong enough for what?" Eleanor hurried forward to walk alongside him.

"There's necromancy in that old crypt. I saw it myself, the living dead. A skeleton, animated by evil magic. That's why I need you two along – it's dangerous down there," Martel admitted.

"You probably just saw some old bones falling out of an alcove," Maximilian remarked with a sour demeanour.

"I saw it clearly. And there's more. I also felt this – evil presence. Something deeply unnatural and foul, it made me shiver," Martel continued. "Sinister magic, just like a maleficar."

"It is easy to get confused when walking underground, especially in such unpleasant surroundings," Eleanor spoke gently. "You might have been mistaken."

"It feels like we are trudging through the city based entirely on your hunches and nightmares," Maximilian added.

"Well, if I'm wrong, no harm done." Martel turned to lead them down the alley with the hatch that Weasel had once showed him, leading into the sewers.

"Except to my nose and dignity." With a sigh, Maximilian pulled the hatch open.

***

Below ground, Martel ignited a flame and took out a piece of chalk, marking their route.

"You do come prepared," Eleanor admitted.

"The catacombs are northeast, so… this way." The fire acolyte chose a direction and began walking on the ledge, followed by the mageknights.

"Tell me again, just so I am sure, we are dragging our way through filth because you 'felt an evil presence'," Maximilian recounted.

"You'll understand once you experience it yourself," Martel claimed.

"Is there any chance that all this is just because you got scared walking past some old bones? You said you saw a skeleton marching about. Would that not explain your little fright rather than any maleficar?" the mageknight questioned.

"It happened on two different occasions," Martel replied, trying to suppress his frustration with his friend. After all, Maximilian had come along, even if he brought a lot of sneering questions with him. "Seeing the necromantic creature was unpleasant, but it felt nothing like the other time. It's like – the difference between smelling a warm pie and a raw onion. Both could be considered food, but you'd never mistake one for the other."

"I see, I see. So this maleficar, would you describe him as an apple pie or maybe a shepherd's pie? Just wondering if he's sweet or savoury," Maximilian laughed.

Martel made no reply, keeping his thoughts to himself as he made another sign with the chalk and led them down a new tunnel.

***

"We're here." Martel increased his flame to better illuminate the walls, filled with Archean scribbles. "The catacombs begin here."

"Fascinating." Eleanor moved closer to inspect the writing. "The words seem simple. All about boundaries and such. Similar to Tyrian wards, I suppose. How strange if the Archeans possessed such magic as well, yet none of it has reached us."

"Thanks for the lesson, Master Fenrick," Maximilian snorted. "Are we going in or what? Sooner this is done, sooner I can be home in bed."

"We're going slow," Martel decided, ignoring Maximilian's protests. "There are dangers down here."

They continued at a lesser pace, the two mageknights taking the lead with the fire acolyte behind them. His flame cast a circle of light to show the many alcoves on either side, all of them occupied by the skeletons of those long since dead. Martel kept sharp watch and a fire bolt ready should any of them move so much as a fingerbone.

"Strange," Eleanor remarked after a while. Nobody had said anything since they entered the catacombs, and Martel felt almost startled upon hearing her voice. "Do you smell that?"

"Between walking through sewers and a crypt, I am breathing through my mouth, thank you," Maximilian retorted.

"She's right," Martel said. He felt it for the second time in his life, almost like a pungent smell in his nostrils until a shiver crept down his spine. Foul magic. "He's here."

They all stopped, and Maximilian turned around to look at the other two. "Bloody Stars, I did not think we would find anything. Maybe dispel that?" He glanced at Martel's flame. "Sneak up on the bastard."

"If we know he's here, he knows about us too. The simplest Tyrian rune would warn him of our approach, and he's probably got all kinds of magic for such purposes," Martel considered. "And he knows this terrain, so fighting in the dark only aids him. But I can move the flame ahead of us, around any corners first, increase it to blinding radiance."

"We will shield our eyes until you reduce the brightness," Eleanor added in agreement. "Very well." Martel could hear how she took a deep breath before she unsheathed her sword. "I am ready."

Before they could move forward or enact any part of their plan, Martel noticed the change in the air, how he felt. The presence was rapidly growing stronger. "Too late! He's here!"

Martel sent his flame down the tunnel to give them light and see as their enemy arrived; meanwhile, the mageknights readied their weapons and stood side by side.

A moment passed, and another. Martel felt his heart beating at double speed. He kept his eyes peeled on the end of the passageway, waiting for the maleficar to show himself.

Martel was not prepared for what he saw. Illuminated by the flame, the black form of a man appeared, hovering in the air. At first, Martel thought the unsteady light made the shape look flickering until the acolyte realised that this being seemed made of dark smoke, constantly expanding and retracting. Where one might say his head would be, a pair of flaming red eyes sat; the only disruption of colour in the black mass of his body.

With a howl sounding like a storm, the creature attacked.