“Stand down”

Azrael woke up – his world sideways – to a standoff. There were two people dead on the floor and The Lightning Witch was surrounded on all sides by holy warriors with their blades drawn. Azrael was glad to see that one of the dead ones was the guy who had knocked him out. Lilith’s silver rapier dripped red, while small sparks danced up and down the blade, uncontrollably – as if to set off the already volatile situation. Azrael was surprised that she still had mana to spare. His had barely regenerated after the fight, though his health was somehow recovered. Someone must have healed him. Seeing as Lilith looked better than when he’d seen her at the end of the fight, he guessed that she was probably in the same state, healed and using what little mana she had left to make a stand.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to.

“Stand down” Sophie repeated, stressing her words. Her silver fox ears were flexed back in warning.

Azrael hadn’t expected Sophie here, though in hindsight she was the one who had been scouting the dragon for Holy Empire. Apparently, she was also in charge, because the ring of holy knights all lowered their weapons – even if somewhat unwillingly. Lilith’s rapier stopped sparking a moment later, her shoulders almost imperceptibly slumping from exhaustion.

“Lady Lilith, I once again apologise for how things worked out” Sophie said. It words sounded as if they had been read from a script, and Azrael was surprised when he realised she actually meant it. “I also apologise for our Commander’s behaviour. He will be strongly reprimanded and I hope he has learnt some… prudence.”

There was a hint of humour in her voice, as is the two of them were sharing a joke. Azrael didn’t quite get how anything in this situation could be funny, especially with two corpses lying on the ground and a dozen armed knights still ready to pull out their weapons at the slightest notice.

Sophie’s voice took on a sharper, different tone and spoke to her guards.

“Please escort our guest to the exit.”

Lilith looked back at the rest of the still unconscious ‘guests’. Sophie saw her gaze.

“Please don’t worry. I will consider your advice and will take it into consideration.”

What advice that might have been, Azrael had no clue, however it seemed to be enough for Lilith. Flicking her rapier free of blood she sheathed it and let a dozen holy knights escort her to the exit.

Before she left though, she turned back.

“Keep an eye on him” she said, looking at Azrael. “We’ll talk about this later”, she added and then turned and continued, until she left their line of sight.

Sophie didn’t acknowledge that she heard, only watching her until she was out of view and then turning to look at him.

“Sam”

Azrael looked to either side of himself, wondering whether there was somebody else next to him that he hadn’t noticed. A moment later he dimly realised that that was the name he had given her, when they first met. Sophie hadn’t missed his movements.

“I can call you Sam, can’t I?” She asked, a dangerous glint entering her eyes.

He swallowed. Their past encounters hadn’t exactly been peaceful, but there was more to this situation than that. {Observer} drew his attention to her tensed shoulders and her white knuckles gripping the daggers at her side. Her silver fox tail swung behind her like an angry metronome. She looked tense and ready to snap.

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“Yes?”

Now, Azrael wasn’t going to admit that he was feeling nervous, but he was bound and right now she felt dangerous. The fact that there were to still warm corpses barely two meters away really didn’t help.

“You are called Sam, aren’t you?”

He hesitated. The knuckles around the hilt of her dagger were whiter – if that was even possible. And then she released a deep breath, her knuckles slowly peeling off her dagger. A calm seemed to wash over her and when she spoke again it was without the previous tension. He wasn’t sure which was version was scarier, the one who was ready to flip or the one that suddenly did a 180.

“I have” she said quietly “a goddess screaming at me to kill you.”

She paused, letting that sink in.

“I have orders from the High Priestess of the Holy Empire to and I quote ‘torture and then kill you, in the most painful way possible’ for the desecration of the statue of the Saintess and the chaos you caused in Nov Lux. Over a hundred people were killed, close to four hundred were badly injured and the main square, alongside the west main road were mostly destroyed. To top it off you also broke out of prison, freed another prisoner who stole valuable knowledge and resources and…”

Her voice turned to ice

“… you left me bound on that bridge for two hours. Two hours, until an artificer could safely make their way through the chaos you caused.”

She pulled out her dagger, examining the sharp edge of the blade.

“Give me one good reason that I shouldn’t kill you, right here or now.”

Azrael watched her play with the blade and reconsidered his opinion of her. Maybe she wasn’t as naïve as he though. While her earlier conversation with Lilith felt forced, she wasn’t acting now. She was angry and she meant every word. He reconsidered his situation.

He was still low on mana, with Sophie herself in front of him with a weapon and two groups of knight in the cavern. One of those was working on the dragon, while the other was escorting The Lightning Witch out. He shuffled, repositioning his bound hands and sighed.

“You’re right. I’m not.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m not Sam.”

Azrael felt something welling up from within him as he saw her face flicker through two emotions – confusion and determination.

“Then who are- “

“I am the Lord of the End Forest!”

His arms whipped up dramatically, and he fell backwards, towards his shadow with a smirk. His smug satisfaction practically bubbled out of his chest. There was nothing like a dramatic exit. It was too bad he didn’t have much mana and already had to use some of it on freeing his bindings.

Azrael hit the ground hard, his shadow physically denying him his dramatic escape. He tried pushing harder with [Shadow Step], but found his usual path to the shadow realm blocked. The skill was active, but something was stopping him.

He turned to Sophie, his eyes narrowing.

“How are you doing this?”

“When did you get free?”

“Azrael?”

Azrael and Sophie’s heads whipped to the side.

James had gotten up and was rubbing his neck. His face had been washed, but he was still completely covered in dried blood. As for his characteristic sword it was nowhere to be seen, most likely still lying somewhere on the battlefield, too heavy for the knights to move.

James casually walked towards the two of them.

“Mind being a little quieter?” He asked, “It’s hard enough for a guy to get some sleep on this rocky ground, without people yelling.”

Sophie looked past James, finding him to be the only one of the unconscious prisoners to have awoken, and turned to search for who was responsible for guarding them. All she found was the four unconscious, currently unguarded prisoners.

The eight Holy Knights that had been guarding The Lightning Witch and the two who had been on guard duty with the now dead Justiciar were currently escorting Lilith to the mouth of the cave. The other thirty were over by the dragon. She was now outnumbered two to one.

“Knights! To me!”

Azrael took the moment of distraction to step towards her, stepping onto her shadow. His foot sunk in slightly with [Shadow Step], before being jerked to a stop. It was as if his own shadow was pulling him back, refusing to enter.

A dagger came flashing past as Sophie registered his movement towards her as an attack and he awkwardly dodged, his foot still stuck in Sophie’s shadow. James charged with a roar and Sophie turned towards the sound. Azrael took the chance to escape. There were thirty Holy Knights now rushing towards them. As wrong as it felt leaving James to fight Sophie he doubted the big man would die. If a dragon couldn’t kill him, he doubted a few knights could.

Making a break, Azrael aimed for one of the spires of crystal just outside the radius of the mage light hanging above Sophie. He managed to make it out of Sophie’s line of sight, before a thought hit him.

There was nowhere to run to. Despite his fortuitous escape, he was trapped.

From ahead, the sound of many metal-clad feet running across stone echoed throughout the chamber.