Humans weren’t meant to swing a sword for that long without rest, and my arms feel boneless and as waxen as the Faith vampires look.
I hurry past an overturned stone tower, leaping onto its cylindrical side and then over it, where Rirth is cleaning off his blade on his undertunic.
He breathes heavily, staring hard at me. “Got here first. Coward.”
I scoff a laugh. Point ahead with my shortsword, where the cathedral sits ominously on top of a slowly sloping hill. “We’re not to the cathedral yet, ass. We’ll see who gets there—”
“Did you see that?” The devious smirk falls from his face. I whip my head around to the hill, where he’s squinting.
Silhouettes split from other silhouettes along the summit of the hill, some of them leading left away from the cathedral, others snaking right. They’re clear as day in the high moon, light casting down on the purple-green landscape.
The silhouettes lurching to the left, west, have a different gait than the mindless grunts we’ve been chopping up.
“Humans,” I eke out. “I’d know a human running any day. Those aren’t vampires.”
“No, butthoseare,” he exclaims, jutting his chin toward staggering bodies behind the fleeing people. Robes flutter in the breeze, and I can’t say for sure from this distance if they’re humans beneath those robes or vampires.
My lip peels back. Other humans are running to the right of the cathedral, as if mass just got out and everyone is dispersing at once.
“Fuck, what is this? What are they trying to do?” I growl.
Lukain and Garro come up next to me from across the road. Garro says, “We saw it too. They’re throwing a diversion, methinks.”
“Could be the humans escaped, scattering to the wind,” Lukain adds.
I debate my options. Worry the inside of my cheek. “Rirth, you still have your knights?”
“I’ve sent most of them to clear the perimeters. I have enough.”
“Okay. You win.” I jut my chin to the hill. “Get to the cathedral. Empty it out. If those are Nuhavians running from their captors, I can’t leave them behind. We have to find out one way or another. Lukain and Garroway—”
“We’re coming with you, little grimmer,” Lukain grumbles, leaving no room for argument.
I sigh. “Very well. Let’s go.” I bump Rirth’s shoulder as he begins to take off. “I’ll come meet you in the cathedral once I know what’s going on outside. Save any humans you can, kill any Damned worshipers you can.”
“Don’t need to tell me twice, Hellwhore.”
Chapter 48
Rirth
I plunge my blade into a rotten heart, pull back, and hear the monster wheeze and splash a mouthful of slick blood onto the dirt before it slides down at my feet.
Then I let out a breath. It’s a ragged one, for sure. In front of me are the cathedral’s doors, closed, ominous stained glass reflecting moonlight on the hillside below me.
I glance over my shoulder.
I’ve made it up faster than my Silverknights. They’re valiantly fending off a swarm of vampires that came from the east, pouring over the hill like a great wave of filth. I was already nearly to the summit by the time they charged in.
Now there’s dozens of the filthy bastards separating me from my contingent, wreaking havoc on my men and women, clawing at their shining cuirasses and breastplates, drawing out grating squeals and harsh clangs.
My soldiers scream their battle-cries. They fight like hellmakers, and I’m torn between jaunting down the hill to join them in the wholesale slaughter, or barging into the cathedral like Sephania ordered me to.
By this point, the humans scattered to the left and right of the cathedral have either been evacuated or fled into the fog from their captors. I can’t be sure, and I can’t turn back to find out.
My only way is forward. It has to be. If any other humans are in that massive church, they deserve saving.
Gripping my sword tight, I rush forward—