It didn't take long for the faith militia to spread out, the men slowly but expertly shifting along the edge of the shanty town, prepared to strike at a moment’s notice. Peeking his head out around the corner once again, Gardinal saw his enemy clearly.
“Now or never.” Gardinal told himself, shifting out from behind the cover and placing his shield squarely in front of him. The massive bulwark almost completely covered him. And as he slowly marched forward, the only thing that told him that he had been noticed was the sound of shouting.
Then the first bolt struck. With a clank it beat against his shield, then bounced off uselessly. Gardinal staggered for a moment, not from the blow, not exactly at least. He had heard the crossbow bolt more than felt it, an odd sensation since he had been on the receiving side of the bloody weapons more than once. Never before had it felt so... impotent. Grinning, Gardinal continued his steady march forward.
“Kill them!” the heathens shouted, followed by a flurry of bolts slamming against the shield. Counting the cracking sounds against his shield Gardinal knew at least six bolts must have struck it, yet he hadn't felt a thing. A holy relic indeed.
Gardinal pushed in on the men, and the sounds of shouts and screams cut short told him his brothers in faith had joined in. Gardinal didn’t look over the shield. That was a sure way to get a crossbow bolt to the head he knew as he had seen it too many times in the Shaded Lands.
“What in the Chaos!” A shout came from nearby. Derenath? Gardinal shifted his stance to see the man staring wide eyed at something ahead of them. Dammit, Gardinal thought, of course this wouldn’t be easy.
Steeling himself, Gardinal glanced over his shield, and spotted what Derenath was staring at immediately. One cultist in the center had bitten his hand, was on his knees, and was beginning to swell up with orange light from within.
“GET BACK!” Gardinal shouted at the men, looking around and seeing all the Faith Militia already moving in closer to the man on the ground. Derenath as well. Gardinal cursed but had no time to think.
Moving as fast as his blasted short legs would let him, Gardinal charged towards Derenath. He barreled through half rotted tents. Chunks of wood flying as he neared the man. Out the corner of his eye Gardinal could see the light growing stronger.
“RUN!” Gardinal shouted louder, the heretics attempting to do as he said ran straight into the glaives of Faith Militia men who paid Gardinal no attention. “RUN DAMMIT!” Gardinal shouted, and finally Derenath turned to look at him.
“Brother Gardinal what are you…” Derenath was cut off as Gardinal tackled the man, throwing his shield up towards the cultist right as he exploded. Flame and cinder engulfed the world around them.
Gardinal hit the ground with Derenath below him. Gardinal breathed, he had never felt so thankful for a nostril full of burning excrement. Ash scratched his throat, but he was alive. Finding himself atop the large man’s plate covered chest, Gardinal knocked on it. Derenath returned a groan. Good, sounded like he was alive as well.
“What in Loose’s cup was that?” Derenath complained through labored breaths. Gardinal shook his head. This was no time for the warrior-priest’s levity, they needed to check on their men. Laying as he was on the muscular man’s chest, Gardinal rolled off before it might be thought odd.
Rising from the muddied earth, Gardinal surveyed the destruction. Every scrap of wood or cloth that had made up the ramshackle dwellings here had been tossed away or burnt up in the inferno. Where the exploding cultist had once stood was a wide crater of burnt stone, at least ten paces across and as deep as Gardinal’s chest. Of those who were in the man’s immediate vicinity there was nothing, and perhaps they were the lucky ones. Men and women, heretic and faith militia alike, were strewn across the mud and ash covered square. The lucky ones were dead with rocks or wood chunks through the skull. The unlucky ones moaned in pain at their missing limbs or half burnt bodies. It took everything in Gardinal to keep himself from retching. These monsters had to be stopped, they needed to…
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Gardinal quickly darted around. The Bishop, where was the Bishop? His heartbeat calmed as he found the man, standing as he was in brilliant white robes with five men around him, all unharmed.
“How did he…” Gardinal remarked in shock, before noticing a slight shimmer in the air around them. A gentle glow that twisted around the small group of men, leading back to the Bishop’s hand. Gardinal shook his head, somehow that man always proved able to impress.
“Y… you… you shall all die.” One of the heathens who still managed to cling to life spat. Gardinal sneered at the man as he crawled towards Gardinal with one arm, the left half of the cultist a singed black weighing him down. Gardinal looked from the man to the four surviving Faith Militia. He could question this man before he died, get some answers, or he could stop four good men from dying. Gardinal ground his teeth. That was always the balance wasn’t it? But he could stop more death from happening if he knew more about the cult. Gardinal watched as one of the dying Faith Militia lifted a shaking hand towards him, blackened skin peeling back.
“H… Help.” The man croaked through bloodied lips. Gardinal winced but turned from the man. The heretics’ information could protect Her Radiance, he had no choice.
“Go save our brothers.” Derenath spoke, striding past Gardinal. “Leave this one to me.”
Gardinal watched Derenath move over to the crawling man, and pour some wine over the wretch. Gardinal nodded, the dedicant of the god of honesty was more likely to get truth from the man than he. Without delay, he rushed over to see what he could do to help the men. He wasn’t Her Radiance, but he knew how to heal battle wounds.
Gardinal spent a few moments with each of the injured men, the Bishop thankfully coming to assist. Occasionally a howl of pain would come from the direction of Derenath, but Gardinal and the Bishop chose to ignore it. Four of their men had died this day, one of which had died in Gardinal’s arms as he had tried to heal him. These sinners would pay.
“YOU WALK TO YOUR DEATHS.” The man that Derenath spoke with cackled, his twisted laughing broken up with howls of pain. Gardinal ground his teeth, then marched over to Derenath. Seeing the bloody pulp of a man grinning with a wide toothy smile, Gardinal grabbed him from Derenath by his burnt collar and smashed several teeth free with a fist.
“What’s so funny to you?” Gardinal growled at the man as Derenath pulled him away. The monsters had killed good men today, he would not just…
“Brother Gardinal I…” Derenath began but was cut off by the cackling madman.
“The Master awaits you. Foolish god-tainted.” The man spoke, a twisted joy to his tone.
“We know of your Summoner, and we are prepared.” Derenath stepped in, positioning himself between Gardinal and the heretic. Gardinal pressed against him, but Derenath held him back. “Trust in me Brother.” Derenath whispered. “I can get what we need.”
Their eyes met, Derenath’s intense stare urging Gardinal to trust him. Gardinal relented, falling back. This man was a legend in his own right, and as of yet stood far above him in their faith. Gardinal would respect his orders.
“Your Summoner will be struck low and brought before the king for the justice of the First Father. Your cult shall not even be a footnote in the history of our city and…” Derenath slowed his speech as the man began to laugh again.
“No…” He whispered. “Not the Summoner… Our master awaits…” The man chuckled a hollow sound.
“X.” Gardinal whispered. The man who led the cult himself was here?
“Your master? X? Where is he?” Derenath demanded. “What is it he wants? What is he trying to do?”
“The girl shall die.” The man whispered, just barely audible. Gardinal’s heart froze. “It is all he speaks of. Her death shall herald the end of all things.” The man grinned wide and stare up at them defiantly. “From Chaos we are born, to Chaos we shall return.”
Slowly, with intense control, Gardinal shoved Derenath aside and brought his knee through the man’s face. The laughing subsided as blood splattered across Gardinal’s teal sash.
“We need to tell the Bishop. If X is in there, we can truly put an end to this for good today.” Derenath spoke, grabbing Gardinal by the shoulder. He didn’t even look down at the man Gardinal had killed. No, not killed, put down. Like the animal he was. It seemed Derenath agreed with him on that. Gardinal nodded and they made their way over to the Bishop.