Pitt found a temple of Pantalus after about an hour of walking. The sun bounced against the wall for the moment, creating a shady zone he hadn't reached yet. By the time he did reach it, he estimated that the sun would be overhead and the shadows would not be there.
At least the air was cool, so he didn't have to worry about discomfort as he started his trip home.
He wondered how long it would take him to get home. Maybe he should see if a horse had survived the night. That was better than walking.
Pitt entered the temple grounds. He looked around but he didn't see any clerics in residence. Maybe they had been killed in the fighting. Some of them must have banished demons during the night.
“Hello, Roland,” said something made of darkness wrapped around light. It stood inside the temple doors. One hand waved at him to approach.
“Hello, Pantalus,” said Pitt. He walked closer. “How are you doing?”
“Fine enough,” said the image. “It's been a while since we talked.”
“I know,” said Pitt. “I hadn't expected to see you. I passed the temple at random and stopped to see if I could get a shirt before I left the city. I met one of your clerics earlier. He seemed okay.”
“Warton Macomber,” said Pantalus. “He overused the grant given him. He is waiting for his time before the bench. Most of the victims from last night are as far as I know. I decided to put business on hold until things were done.”
“I'm afraid you won't have Neil Skaren appear before you,” said Pitt. “I killed him in the Underworld. He'll probably be stuck down there forever.”
“There's only a few of you left,” said Pantalus. “Most have been taken off the board one way or the other. The fact that Skaren turned bad shouldn't be that much of a surprise to you.”
“Sacrificing a city seems a bit much,” said Pitt. He waved at the destruction outside the temple. “The fact that ten other magicians threw in with him is a bit worrying.”
“There were twelve when this started,” said Pantalus. “Skaren killed two himself when they opposed him. The rest were killed by Macomber and his friends.”
“Good on them,” said Pitt. “You wouldn't happen to know where I can get a shirt and a replacement coat, would you?”
“The temple keeps a charity box for the poor next to the gate,” said Pantalus. “You passed it when you came in to talk to me.”
“Thanks,” said Pitt. He turned to root through the locker.
“What are you going to do now?,” asked Pantalus.
“I'm going to get me a shirt and coat, and head home,” said Pitt. “The Highlands have been my home for a while, but eventually I am going to have to move on.”
“Where will you go after that?,” asked Pantalus.
“I don't know yet,” said Pitt. “I haven't quite decided yet, and Montague keeps pulling me to deal with these messes.”
“It was a pleasure to talk with you again after so long,” said Pantalus.
“I'll visit one of your places when I get settled down again,” said Pitt. “That's all I can promise.”
“That will be fine,” said Pantalus.
“You wouldn't happen to know where the Highlands are from here, would you?,” asked Pitt.
“They are three hundred miles that way,” said Pantalus. He pointed out the direction of travel.
“Let me get that shirt and coat and be on my way,” said Pitt. “These boots aren't going to carry me there without my legs moving.”
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“Have a safe trip,” said Pantalus.
“Don't worry,” said Pitt. “I'll talk to you again when I get home.”
He walked out to the charity box and opened it. It took him a few minutes to find a shirt that fit. He pulled it on, then looked for a coat to replace the one he had left behind in the Underworld. He found something like a heavy jacket and pulled it on. It would have to do until he got a real replacement.
He looked at the temple. It stood empty. He nodded before he closed the box and headed out of the gate. He had a long way to walk. He couldn't ask the god of the dead to translate him across the face of the world to put him where he wanted to be.
Breaking physical laws and preventing themselves from doing that was why the gods had created the Brotherhood in the first place.
Asking one to do that for his own convenience was just asking to be denied.
He briefly wondered how Montague was capable of summoning him to battle across any distance. His thoughts turned to the fact his ghostly comrade was never around to send him home when the fight was over.
That was the more important part in his opinion.
Pitt glanced up at the sun moving above. The indicated direction for home was sideways to its line of travel. He just had to keep moving in the daytime until he got home.
He thought he would be able to find a horse once he was away from the city. That would help him get home faster.
He heard birds as he walked through the empty streets. He thought that was a good sign. If demons were still around, the birds would be steering clear. Whatever had happened while he was gone, had saved whatever was left.
Macomber and his friends had defended the city better than he had. He smiled. They deserved whatever commendation they received from the remaining authorities and their own organizations.
He saw people coming out on the street. They seemed to be trying to do a head check. He imagined the demons had killed everyone they had caught in the night. Pantalus would be judging the dead on their merits as the rest of the situation was fixed by the mortals on the ground.
It might be years before the city returned to the thriving community it had been before Skaren had started his scheme. People would remember the battle for a long time. They were walking wounded, and there was nothing his strength could do to fix that.
He walked along. He watched for problems but felt the first step for the city to start healing would be the clearing of the wreckage and finding all of the dead. He expected that to be a challenge.
The demons would have feasted on anyone they killed.
Demons needed life to operate in the real world. They would have killed anything they came across so they could keep going. If they didn't, they would quickly rot away.
Some would have tried to mate with humans to create demonlets. That would give the offspring an anchor in the real world and traumatized the human victims into becoming servants.
Pitt supposed those would be on the list of monsters that would continue to need to be killed as the city got back on its feet.
He spotted clerics moving into help the people as he kept walking. He waved an older woman off. He didn't need any help to put one foot in front of the other.
The gate neared as he kept going. He should have checked the temple for food. A biscuit would be really good right now.
He smiled at that. He was leaving a battlefield to be fixed by people who might be starving by the time winter came around. He didn't have the right to complain about not having a biscuit.
Maybe the gods would show a bit of mercy and help the citizens out until they could do things on their own again.
Pitt paused at the gates. They stood closed. He wondered if that was because the guards hadn't known where the invasion was coming from, or if they were dead in their towers. They were out in the open when the battle kicked off. They might have been the first to die.
Would the city need to have gates to close in the next few days as word spread that demons had come to the world for the first time in a long time.
He didn't need to knock the gates down. He could go over the wall if he wanted to get out bad enough.
What should he do about this? The towers didn't look welcoming to him. Should he see if the guards were still alive so he could figure out what he needed to do?
Pitt frowned as he looked around. He stood alone. If anything happened, he didn't have to worry about anyone getting in his way.
He went to the tower with an access door. He knocked on the door with his fist. He waited, listening for any movement. He frowned at the silence.
He knocked again a little harder. If no one came to the door, he would knock it down and look around inside.
“Go away,” said a voice from inside.
“Open up in the name of the emperor,” said Pitt. “Otherwise, my men and I will have to knock the door down.”
“Really?,” said the voice. “I would like to see you try it.”
Pitt shook his head. It looked like there were still demons in the city. Controlling the gates meant they could hunt at night, taking random citizens until someone figured out what was going on and sent a cleric up to clear them out.
He didn't feel like dealing with them, but he was the only one that could. He should do something about the problem before he left for good.
Pitt struck the door with his shoulder. Wooden slats blasted inside the small space at the base of the stairs leading to the top of the wall. Demons screamed at the sun trying to reach them. The demigod yanked them out of their shelter before they could try to stop him.
He smiled as he reduced them to ash.