The charge for consorting or binding with a demon is universally execution. Though this is the case, it is not usually the landowner or civic forces that are required to do so. Often it is the call of crusaders from the church to dole out the punishment at hand, given a trial has proven them guilty. In rare cases, knights will be dispatched to act as executioner, should the country or target be too much of a hassle for the officials to handle.

Their footsteps followed a rhythmic pattern in the halls, helping to mask each other as they walked. Once they got close to the corner where the candle faded, Gwindon peered around it first. A few doors on either side, but no further sign of the light. He focused his gaze to the floor and finally noticed a wedge of yellow bleeding from under one of the doors.

“Damn, that’s the door opposite to where my things are being held.” Gwindon explained to her in a whisper.

“I saw Lilith knock out of the priests earlier, can’t we draw this one out and do something similar with him?”

“No, that priest was just meant to maintain guard duty. He might not have had anyone coming for a long while, but this priest might have woken up another, or be under orders to report something to Daylon. In fact, that might even be the arch priest himself in there.”

Icara thought to herself for a moment before drawing her sword. “Wait, we could just wedge the door until you’ve gotten yourself completely armed. If its one of the priests, we’ll just intimidate him or lock him in the store room, the same with Daylon but we might have to fight. The benefit being he’ll likely have taken off his armor now that it’s night.”

Gwindon considered it for a moment and nodded, sneaking forward. The sound of movement drifted towards them as they got closer to the door, and blood rushed through both of their ears. Gwindon reached the opposite door first and turned back to Icara as she grabbed onto the door’s handle. She pushed it back with both hands, preventing it from opening. After a brief pause with no sudden change inside the lit room, Gwindon headed into the storage room and began to search for his belongings.

It was only an instant once he started that Icara’s mind drifted. With the rush of movement ever since the chase from Daylon, she hadn’t been able to think about his accusation very much. It was obvious that Koshchei had fabricated the facts to hide his usurpation of the throne, but something unnerved her about it. The lengths he went to were excessive by any measure. He would have had to prove a demon attack much harder than he would have to if he simply murdered them with poison or staged an accident. Her brow furrowed in thought, as if trying to force the pieces to come together in her mind.

A gentle shove from the door broke her concentration, and the shove that followed made her heart race. The person behind the door shoved hard for a few seconds, but Icara’s weight kept it in place. When the effort failed, the stranger stopped and a knock could be heard.

“Who’s there?” Came Lilith’s voice.

“Lilith!” Icara whispered a little too loudly, turning back to the room Gwindon was searching. “What are you doing in there? We saw a candle light go into that room and thought it was one of the priests.”

“I was walking ahead and the woman of the church passed by and caught sight of me. She was either preparing to replace the guard for Gwindon, or was doing some prayer duty for the night. Either way, I’ve knocked her out, open the door and let me out of here!”

Icara turned back towards the room Gwindon was in and shook her head. It was inevitable they’d meet, in her mind, so she felt not betrayal when she opened the door. Lilith pushed the door open and ran a hand over her hair with a smile. The inside of the room was some kind of study, with a woman lying on the ground behind her. Unlike the other candle, the woman’s was a crimson color. It was spilled over her torso, looking like a deep wound had cut into it.

“Thanks for that, Icara. Hey, why’s that room opened?” Lilith asked as she stepped into the hall.

They both moved out of the door together, letting the candle light flow into the room. Gwindon only had his sword free from a small pile of his belongings. The armor shook as he drew it out and leveled his gaze at his wife. Both of them stared each other down, eyes distant for different reasons. Gwindon was the first to look away, finding the body of the unconscious priestess.

“Look, Gwindon, I know this isn’t exactly the best place to meet or the one I think I would have preferred, but—” Lilith began to speak.

“Enough. Icara, step away from her.” Gwindon interrupted, leveling his sword and taking a deep breath.

Both the women were thrown off, but Icara did as he asked. Lilith turned to her in confusion, and just barely missed as the knight lunged at her. She tilted her body towards the ground and let gravity make her dodge the hit, twisting in the fall and catching herself before rolling away. His blade had stuck into the door with his attack and he yanked it free with one hand, inspecting the tip for any damage.

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“W-What are you doing?!” Lilith shouted before covering her mouth.

“I’m finishing what I did in Drahven all those years ago. There’s no point in talking beyond this, draw your weapon or you’ll die in the next three seconds.” Gwindon’s voice was strained but determined.

Lilith grit her teeth and drew two of her sword, brandishing them at either side and starting to breathe faster already. The low lighting made it hard to see, but Icara could tell that her hands were shaking. Icara thought to flee from the scene, or to try and knock Gwindon out, but something kept her grounded. At first she thought it was fear, but it soon became clear that the same feeling of unease was keeping her in place. She put a hand to her head and blinked a few time, noticing the sweat clear on her skin.

A harsh clang drew her attention up as Lilith caught Gwindon’s sword with one of her own. She raised it to strike at his stomach, but Gwindon was faster, his sword turn on its flat and forcing back at her. The sword smacked painfully into her forehead, but didn’t cut from the placement. He lifted the blade to hit it down again and Lilith kicked out at his legs, forcing him back.

“Stop! Why are you doing this?!” Lilith shouted, her care for subtlety lost in the combat.

Gwindon was silent, but went for another lunge. Lilith tried to parry the blow, but got cut on her shoulder. A swift kick to his stomach sent Gwindon reeling back into Icara’s arms, who caught him out of reflex. Once there, she locked her grip and he looked up at her in confusion.

“Icara, let me go.” He asked her in the same strained tone.

“I think you should at least answer Lilith about—”

“Let me go!” Gwindon snapped at her, his face twisting in a scowl.

He jammed his elbow into her side, forcing her back as he gathered his footing and moved towards his target again. Icara collapsed to one knee with a growl as pain rolled over her sides. She watched him move in for another strike against Lilith with one hand covering her sore area. Turning to pick up her blade, she was shocked to find a pair of eyes staring back. A frightened priest, drawn by the sound of conflicted, yelped as he was discovered and bolted back down the hall. Icara looked back and the married duelists were now in full swing, weapons singing through the air as they raged further down the hall.

Icara held a hand out and gather her breath again. “Gwindon! Lilith! They know we’re here, we need to leave!”

“Get out of here yourself! Doesn’t matter if they catch me, just go!” Gwindon shouted back at her.

She braced herself to run, but sweat was slick on her cold skin. Both Gwindon and Lilith were barely managing to not hit the other, and one was sure to break first. Fear and anger came over her and brought her into action finally, drawing her sword and charging forward. With the blunt end down, she swung for Gwindon’s back. He managed to avoid the strike’s intended location, but took a staggering blow to his arm. Lilith struggled up to her feet and looked to the younger woman in shock.

“Thanks...” She offered between panting breaths. “Gwindon... I thought that madness from the city had left you! Why are you still attacking me?!”

“It has, for the most part. All I have left are the baser instincts of the demon that caused that mess, as well as a part of the physical abilities it should have given me. That’s all that I’ve got left... but there’s more of it left in you, Lilith.”

“What? I would never! Gwindon, I only attacked you because I thought you’d come down with that curse and were going to slaughter everyone. I wanted to stop you myself before you hurt anyone. That’s not really what happened, I get that now, but it was all I could piece together when I saw those bodies!”

“Lilith, I have no memories from when I was under the curse, my mind was something malleable and didn’t retain anything. It’s only because I was aware of the curse happening that I’m able to patch the two halves of memories together, the before and after.” Gwindon raised his blade and narrowed his gaze. “Tell me... what were you doing before that fight? Why’d you have your weapon on you and drawn in the royal court?”

Both the women froze in place. Lilith opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out of her mouth. Her eyes frantically scattered about, like she was dreaming. A million lies were flying through her head, but she wanted the truth. Nothing came to her as her weapon lowered to the ground. Only a blur of thought, nothing as concrete as the fight with her husband itself. Her hands shook and she struggled to keep her footing. Icara moved between them with her sword at the ready.

“All this fighting is irritating me, especially when we’re running out of time as it is. We’re all getting out of here, Gwindon. If you’re not happy with that, I’m going to fight you myself right here and now.” She declared, her voice strong and royal in tone.

“Irritating you? Then leave, you have no reason to stay here any—”

“Wrong! You’re the reason I even came here!” Icara snapped at him. “Just because you’re acting like a starved dog doesn’t mean I’m going to change that desire to get you out of here. I’ll have to leave your armor behind, but I’m more than willing to drag you out of here myself.”

A rattling sound of armor drew their attention as they looked down the hall with the storage room in it. Daylon stood in his full armor, with his warhammer resting on one shoulder as he glared the intruders down. The priest’s peered from behind him and held candles up. Shadows cast over his face and gave the armored paladin an even more intimidating aura.

“You won’t be leaving this place at all.” He warned them before he rushed to attack Icara.

In a hasty move, she grabbed Lilith and threw her over to Gwindon’s side when the knight was distracted. She lacked the time to dodge the hit and swung with her sword instead. The hammer’s head flashed on contact and the sword shattered in the blow. Once more Lilith was grabbed as the upper curve of the sword was sent flying in their direction. Gwindon took the blow to his face, the blade of her weapon glancing over his right eye and tearing a gash open. Lilith looked up at him in awe and fear coursed through her as some blood dripped onto her cheek.

Daylon went for another swing, but Icara lashed out with her broken sword, aiming for the paladin’s neck. He managed to lower his helmet and turn the fatal cut to a stunning strike. Icara took advantage of the instant and dashed towards her companions. She grabbed Lilith and Gwindon by the neck and yanked them along before letting go and breaking into a sprint.

The knight hesitated in his movements and paid dearly. Daylon struck his back hard with a holy book as he closed the distance. Lilith grit her teeth in rage and flung one of her swords at the approach archpriest. The distance recovered, Lilith put one of the knight’s arms around him and followed off after Icara. Daylon turned to take a shorter route to cut them off, the priests following behind out of fear. Everyone broke out into the main section of the church at the same time, with Gwindon and Lilith on one entrance and Daylon at the other side. In the middle of the pews was Icara, frozen in place. At the exit to the church were some men in uniform carrying weapons.

All of their outfits were blazoned with the royal crest of Alastair, denoting them as the king’s personal guard.