Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 43 Take Us To Them.

“Teleportation?” Lenna asked as they walked into the jail’s armory.

“It’s new. Hurt like hell.” Isaac replied.

Lenna nodded and started re-arming. “I’ve heard stories. I’m surprised you are alive.”

“Oh? What kind of stories?” Isaac asked and also started putting all his gear back on.

“There was a shadow sorcerer, they are common in house L’Vore, who was forced to go beyond his limits. He ruptured a mana pathway but managed to cast a spell beyond his means.” She explained. “Sound familiar?”

“Yeah actually.” He admitted. “I felt like I hit a wall but pushed through it anyway. I had to heal a ruptured pathway afterwards. Is it that dangerous?”

“They tried to replicate it. Twelve sorcerers died from trying to gain power like that. They stopped the experiment.” She told him somberly.

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Only twelve? With the way you talk about your kin I would have thought it would have been more.”

“That was a tenth of the sorcerers in the empire.” She replied sadly.

“Oh.” Isaac whispered. He was finishing the last strap on his armor when the door to the rest of the jail opened up.

“Guys? What’s taking…” A young man about Isaac’s age, in the same chainmail guard uniform as the three corpses a room over, walked in and froze upon seeing Isaac and Lenna.

The whole room froze with him. Isaac took a step towards him and deepened his voice while leaking shadows out of his pores. The shadows came off of him in whisps that seemed to darken the room. “Move one muscle and I’ll add you to the corpse pile.” Isaac told him with nothing but cold venom in his voice.

The young man swallowed hard and just silently stared wide eyed at the shadow monster in front of him. He didn’t dare move as he processed what he had just heard. His fellow guards were probably all dead in a corner in the cells and he didn’t want to join them.

“Now, here is what’s going to happen.” Isaac commanded as if he was a god looking down on a mortal. The fear coming off the young man was palpable. “You, are going to find that magistrate. Then you are going to tell him that he is about to receive an important guest. Then you will come back and take us to him.”

Lenna continued strapping on her breastplate that she was in the middle of putting on when the guard entered. Isaac had the situation handled and she feared that if she got her aura involved she would break the poor boy’s spirit to a point where he would be useless to them.

The guard continued to hardly breathe and wait for Isaac to continue. “Do, you, understand?” Isaac asked slowly without blinking or breaking eye contact with the guard.

“Yes sir.” The guard whispered.

“Good.” Isaac drew the word out just enough for the guard to feel like he had just made a deal with a demon.

The guard swallowed hard again. “Who should I tell him is coming?”

“You shouldn’t.” Isaac replied neutrally but still in his deepened voice.

The guard nodded but didn’t otherwise respond. “If we are ambushed…” Isaac told him. “I will kill every guard in this city. Bar none. Now go.” With that promise and order the guard hurried off on his quest for no other reason than self preservation.

Isaac relaxed and his shadows dissipated. He took a deep breath. “Was that the right call?” He asked Lenna.

She glanced at him. “I don’t know. Why did you do it?”

“I needed more time before facing some important person in verbal combat. Also we need a plan. This has gotten way out of hand.” He explained.

“Then, I believe, you made the right decision.” She replied and reached for her helmet. Then she stopped and set it back down. She walked over to her backpack and dug through it until she found her brush.

Isaac watched her take out her braid and brush her long almost straight silver hair. The waves in it were obviously from the braid and some of her hair had decided that up was the new down. “How can you just let me go off and make decisions like this? There’s never any discussion, I just decide something on a whim or come up with some crazy plan and you just go along with it.”

“Not every plan.” Lenna reminded him. “Any plan that puts you in unnecessary risk I will question.”

“But what about putting you at risk?” He countered.

Lenna continued brushing her hair as she replied: “My life is yours. You saved me, almost died for it. Got chased out of a town because of me. Just killed three men and broke out of a jail that you were put in, all because of me.”

She threw her hair back and turned to face him as she braided it. “I have only put you in more danger with my presence. Instead of protecting you I’m putting you at risk. What am I supposed to do Isaac?” She pleaded.

Isaac was taken aback. He hadn’t really thought about it like that. He had just seen that people hated her because she was a drow even though she had done nothing to them. He took offense on her behalf and acted. It was as simple as that for him.

“Lenna… what I want you to do is…” He thought for a moment. “Follow my lead. Continue to trust in me. Protect me from the front and I’ll protect you from behind. Be my shield against opponents we can face directly and let me be a dagger in the back of those we can’t. That is what I need from you. I’m not keeping track of debts or dangers when it comes to you. All I need is a companion who will follow me wherever I decide to go. Can you do that for me?”

She straightened and raised her chin. He wasn’t even worried about the danger she posed to him. She knew at that moment that even if she could one day pay off the stacking debt she owed him that she would stay by his side. “As you wish. My Lord.” She said with resolve to protect him from everything she was able to and to rely on him to handle everything else. She was his sword and shield and he was a cloak and dagger. She knelt in front of him. “I swear I will…”

Isaac cut her off. “No. Don’t swear it. Just do it.” He told her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She raised her head and met his gaze.

“Alright,” She nodded and stood. “Isaac.”

After a long moment of the two of them staring into each other’s eyes like love struck school children Isaac smiled and took a deep breath. “Now that the heartfelt moment is finished, let’s get down to business.”

“What do you need from me?” Lenna asked and then finished braiding her hair.

Isaac walked over to the weapons and strapped on his shortsword and dagger while talking. “We tried to play nice and this is where it got us. Now we are doing things my way. They aren’t going to like my way. It’s time to play on something I heard once from a friend of mine. Demi-gods are made differently from mortals.”

Lenna paused for a moment before asking: “Are you a demi-god?”

“I don’t think so.” Isaac replied. “But we need to come off as powerful enough that they want to work with us and also powerful enough that trying to get rid of us won’t be worth the effort. We need them to use the truth spell and then only answer things in a way that makes us look as strong as possible.”

“That sounds like posturing. Anyone who’s spent time in court will probably see through it.” Lenna replied.

“They would if it was just posturing. Tell me Lenna, do you think I could kill every guard in the city?” Isaac asked.

“Given enough time, as long as they don’t have magic items, or a powerful enough wizard, yes.” She answered.

“No. The correct answer is just, yes. Leave out all the ways it could go wrong and while we are in the truth spell they will have to take it at face value. That is how we are going to threaten our way into having access to the city.” He explained.

Isaac grabbed his longsword then looked at Lenna for a moment. “Trade.”

“What?” She asked and turned to see the longsword in his hands. She took her sword belt off and handed it to him.

“We are never going to be caught without a weapon again.” He told her and the sword belt disappeared into his Inventory.

“That one is magical.” She told him as she took the sword from him and reached for his old sword belt that it was in.

“Oh. Well I guess we need to get another magic sword.” He replied. “Now we just need to wait for the damn guard to show up. I swear if he brought an entire army back with him I’m go…”

The door to the jailhouse slammed open and in came a panting guard that they had seen not long ago. “I… am… to… bring you… to see… the duke and… the magistrate…” He slowly got out between labored breaths.

Isaac shared a glance with Lenna and they grabbed their backpacks just in case something went wrong and they had to make a run for it. Lenna put her helmet on and nodded at Isaac to say that she was ready. Isaac coated his armor in a thin layer of shadows to give it an eerie look. The light seemed to die on contact and it silenced his movement completely.

Isaac walked up to the guard and looked down at him. He was still doubled over, hands on his knees, gulping air. “Take us to them.”