Within the circle, the being now existing inside the body of Senator Corrus Agular opened its eyelids, revealing the vacancy within.

“Well? Is it taken care of?” pressed one of the robed figures.

“Silence, worm. You may have me contained for now, but I assure you, I will be free and then you will be my sustenance.”

“Come now, Malliphina. There is no need for unpleasantness. We helped you, and you must help us. We have a contract. Besides, we are working towards the same goal,” a second voice sounded from within the robed figures.”

While exaggerating every sound and syllable, the being half snarled, half hissed, “Ssci-ipi-io-o, you put me in this thing! How dare you put me in the body of a man! Especially a lowly, filthy one such as this!”

Scipio drew back his hood, revealing his face. With a rueful grin, he muttered to himself, “So much for anonymity.” He addressed the being directly. “I apologise. We needed your assistance. Time was short, and this was all we had on hand. If you give us some time and direction, we can transfer you to a more…suitable form for you.”

“Give me that one.” The being pointed to the one who spoke earlier.

“To move to?”

“No. I will consume it. I can taste it, the fear! I want it.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you there. We need the six of us to keep you here. If you kill him - ‘poof’ – you are back whence we summoned you. Now, the task. Was it completed satisfactorily?”

“That crying bitch-Goddess, she interfered. There was a God Touched, and there was a God Chosen there. He saw me, the Chosen. He is dangerous, he can destroy me, so I come back.”

“What do you mean? How?”

“His power. If his power kills, it destroys the soul. I am all the corrupted souls I have consumed, so his power would destroy me.”

“Well, an unexpected hiccup. Oh, you all can take your hoods down. We may as well know each other. I won’t be the only conspirator identified.”

All present reluctantly removed their hoods. They were all members of the Nevan Imperial Senate, except for Scipio, who, as a censor, shared power equally with Censor Marius Vinnicum. Scipio the civil censor, Marius the military.

The being spoke again, using a more conciliatory tone. “I need a new vessel. I need a pure body. A woman’s body. This thing I am in stinks of corruption, and so my presence is consuming it. I can stay in a pure body indefinitely, as my essence cannot consume what is not corrupt.”

“I will see what can be done. As for all of you, be aware that if any of you decide to alert the authorities, I will know who, and Malliphina here will consume them. We all live now, at each other’s pleasure, and at each other’s discretion. Is that clear?”

The group nodded reluctantly.

Scipio turned back to Malliphina. “Wait here. I will bring you a snack, and see what we can do about…” he grimaced as he waved his hand around the front of Corrus’ body. It started to stink and show some early signs of bloating.

He then stalked out of the cavern. The group of five senators looked at each other hesitantly and began filing after Scipio. Once outside, masked servants led the members of the group to their waiting carriages. Scipio headed to his villa, where he noticed Bruno had returned.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“So, I need to tell you to stay out of the cavern for the time being.”

“As you wish, worship.”

“How did your errand go?”

“I got some subordinates spreading coin about between here and Sisocoria. The instructions were to flood the roads with armed men heading to Disipica and to travel upriver to Argente and Siscum. That covers whatever routes they will take overland. I also have ships loaded with men heading to Disipica by sea. All have been told to exterminate any Haldermen they see and anyone travelling with them.”

“Good, good. It seems that arcane methods have yielded no results, so conventional methods it is.”

ᚲᚺᚱᛟᚾᛁᚲᛚᛖᛊᚱᛁᚾᚾ×ᛟᚱ×ᛟᚱᚾ

After the attack, Sir Uhter had ridden back to the camp. While there, he gave the remaining Haldermen directions to the praetor’s estate, and instructions to strike camp at first light and meet there. He then gathered his knights and returned to the villa, where they stood guard while they all slept. However, sleep did not come easy for the household after the evening’s attack.

Thayn decided they needed to travel faster, and thus lighter. Also, he was concerned with Darius losing his entire security detail. For this reason, he charged Sir Uhtred and his knights with protecting Darius, his family, and the remaining Holvelan villagers.

Darius being polite and tried to decline Thayn’s thoughtful generosity, as he felt he owed them too much already. Thayn insisted and ordered Sir Uhter to remain. In addition, Sir Uhter gifted Darius with one of the knights’ spare horses for him to ride when they travelled between his home and the basilica. Hans also remained behind. Thayn thanked him for all that he had done and bade him represent Viggin’s interests well in any negotiations.

With that settled, they bade their farewells. Venna spent a good deal of time with Appolina, extending her an invitation to come to Sofjorland, and promising to visit again. Darius had his staff loading them up with supplies for the road, such as non-perishables, dried herbs and spices, and barrels of wine.

Soon the party was on the river near the south gate of Raugus. They made good time using the ferries on the Buraquenni River. Between Gereld and Orn’s affinity with water, they could make the distance, horses and all, in a single day.

They set up camp on the outskirts of the large town, and Shufi went inside to ferret out any information on the movement of the fighting slaves from Raugus. From Shifi’s contacts, they found out that they had left for Mevennoli five days prior to their arrival.

When Shufi returned to the camp with this news, the buzz around Orn’s family and Thayn had become more excited. A feeling of being close to their goal uplifted them, however Venna took a more sober stance, once she allowed her elation to subside.

“We need to be aware that anything can happen between now and us catching up with them.”

“Yes, Venna is correct,” Shufi added. “From here to the small town of Leila, we must go by road. It is around three hundred and forty miles, so by horse it will take us twelve days. And there is no water between here and there, so we can’t push it too much. But from Leila, we can go by riverboat to Mevennoli.”

Venna looked deflated on hearing that. “They just keep getting further away.” Orn and Erik each put an arm around her as they listened.

Shufi pursed his lips for a moment, and interjected, “If we assume that they are travelling overland the same speed as us, without the benefit of water affinity…we should catch them at Disipica. We will miss them by three days in Mevennoli, but it will only take us a day from there to Disipica.”

“What makes you so certain that they will go to Disipica, and not, say, Siscum, or Argentiate?” asked Gereld, who went on, “From there it’s just a riverboat ride straight to the main games in Paqurineva.”

“Because the fights are all about the coin, Gereld. The most money to be made in the shortest route would go through Disipica and Sisocoria. Both those cities each have as many people as Mevennoli, Siscum and Argentiate combined. And Sisocorio is on that same river.”

“Well, I yield to your local knowledge, Shufi. Gods keep the king for his foresight in sending you with us,” Gereld said as he smiled at Shufi, who smiled back and winked.

And so they continued along the road to Leila, camping at the side of the road during the night. The size of the group and the fact that they all seemed to be armed and bigger than any men ever seen in the Neven countryside, even the most ambitious bandits and highwaymen left them alone. Not even the toll scammers tried to put up their barricades. They just hid until the group passed.

As they reached the outskirts of Leila, however, things changed. Shufi Came riding fast from scouting ahead shouting, “We’ve got trouble!”