Arc 7: Chapter 31: Their Monster
The Saint of Curses traveled on a walking tree.
It stretched out beneath the hut, which was contained inside the hollow at the top of its trunk, tucked securely into the embrace of branches thick as most ordinary trees. Its legs were roots, a dozen of them striding across the uncanny wilderness of the Wending Roads with an unnerving grace. It made strange sounds, that tree, almost whale-like. On occasion, I could hear similar calls answering from beyond an indistinct horizon.
I stood outside on a balcony. The “hut” was more like a large house, with multiple stories. I ran my fingers across the mossy railing, lost in thought. Only when the door at my back opened did I pull myself out of my own mind.
“Lias is resting,” Delphine told me. “Fever. Urddha says it’s because of the marks he’s wearing, not the wound you gave him. They’re hard on mortals, she says.” She hesitated and added, “They’re killing him. He doesn’t have much time left.”
I let out a breath. “And he wasted it waiting on me to come and finish the job. It’s like he gave up. That’s not like him.”
The former nun moved to the railing and turned to face the house, leaning against the barrier and letting her head fall back. I sensed she had something to say, and I didn’t much feel like talking myself, so I waited.
“What are you going to do?” She said at last.
My grip tightened on the rail. “He’s confessed all of his crimes, and I have my orders. I have to kill him.”
Delphine kept her eyes skyward. “Even after all that?”
“Especially after all that. He planned to open a door to Hell. Bleeding Gates, he planned to fuse himself with the god of all devils! If that’s not a maniac’s scheme, then I don’t know what is.”
“And yet, it would have changed everything.” Delphine folded her arms. “Changed the world. Our world, at least.”
I grunted noncommittally.