While nudging at Kylian to keep his sword raised, Ailn drew his own sword, taking stock of the chamber they were in.

He was doing it to get a sense of space, but he couldn’t help but notice the pointedly Egyptian-esque art on the right side’s mural. No, actually, now that he looked—there was more than just stylistic resemblance going on here.

Ailn recognized that vignette. He’d be a fool not to. But now wasn’t the time.

“Can you show Renea the way to ground level?” Ailn asked the priest next to him. “If there’s anyone who can fight up there, send them down.”

“That—I don’t really—” Ciecout hesitated between his lingering uncertainty, and his sense of social grace.

“I’m not a demon,” Renea said, meeting Ciecout’s eyes. She was trying not to glare, but anyone could tell she was upset. “If you don’t wish to escort me then head up and retrieve half a dozen knights.”

“Shit! They’re in the cathedral!” voices echoed from down the passage.

That was enough for the priest to make a decision. If this was a trap by demons, it was a rather elaborate one.

“Let’s hurry,” Ciecout gestured for Renea to follow him, and the two made their way out in a rush.

Now a clamor of footsteps could be heard from Ailn and Renea’s pursuers, as they were nearing the bottom of the staircase.

“How many are there?” Kylian asked, quietly.

“Seven or eight. Just clubs,” Ailn said.

Just barely, Kylian’s shoulders seemed to relax. Evidently he didn’t think they’d have any trouble.

“We’ve gotta stop them before they tell anyone!” one of lackeys cried out. Then, stomping its way up the stairs, the whole crowd came into view just barely—the torchlight only marginally lending ambient light down into the staircase.

Kylian must have looked rather foreboding, the way he glared down upon the crowd of criminals.

“I’d suggest you give yourselves up,” Kylian said. “Whatever your plot, this tunnel’s existence is a secret no longer. The laws of our land are lighter upon those who cooperate.”

Those words alone got a couple of the criminals to turn tail, probably figuring they could escape if nothing else. It was the tall man and the woman Ailn couldn’t quite place.

“Those bastards!” The curly-haired guy cursed at the two who ran. “There’s only two of them and the noble one’s a wimp! Just smash ‘em and let’s get out of here!”

The curly-haired man evidently fully believed what he was saying, because he came rushing at Ailn first, along with two of the lackeys.

Unfortunately for them, they were still mostly choked at the door, so Ailn struck at the first man up—the one with curly hair—and kicked hard and downward. The curly haired man fell backward onto the two coming in, who’d pushed him forward in the first place. They wrangled past him, knocking him around while they did so.

The three managed to make it past the threshold, but the curly-haired man was definitely worse for wear. It looked like the whiplash gave him a mild concussion.

The other two, unfortunately, were just fine. They went straight for Ailn.

Forced to take a few steps back as he defended himself from their swinging clubs, Ailn grimaced, glancing at the doorway. With a nod, Kylian had stepped in to take care of it.

Keeping his movements slight, Ailn dodged one of the pair's swings, and knocked him hard on the back of the neck with his sword’s pommel.

Meanwhile, Kylian looked at ease, keeping the other three from passing the threshold. He was basically doing what Ailn had, but better. Every time they tried to scramble up, Kylian met them with a powerful strike of his sword.

They simply couldn’t break through. Using swordplay alone, Kylian kept them fully at bay.

After half a minute of whoever happened to be vanguard getting thrown around like a ragdoll, the group gave up. Realizing the first two who escaped were the smartest—they all started jostling past each other and shouting. One of them faceplanted from being shoved aside, but momentarily all of them were scampering away in the tunnel.

That left just two conscious opponents, one of whom was severely concussed.

Kylian held out his sword, stepping in front of the door’s path.

“I surrender,” the other man said, dropping his club. It was the merchant Ceric had talked to in the tavern. “It’s clear my best option now is to cooperate. You said Varant’s laws are light on those who do?”

“I said lighter,” Kylian said impassively. “Not light.”

Just as Kylian had said that, five or so knights came streaming in. First, the vigilant knights noted and more completely detained the incapacitated and surrendered men. But as soon as they did so, they let their attention drift to the striking room around them.

“What—“ Ciecout came scrambling in, “—to what end did I bring these knights if you were sufficiently capable yourselves?!”

He was breathless, apparently having thought they were battling for their lives. “That’s five more knights who needn’t have seen this mausoleum…” Ciecout groaned.

“Mausoleum?” Ailn asked, perplexed. Sure, it was decorated right—but it was missing the key ingredient. “Where’s the body?”

“Well,” Kylian pointed at the ‘door’ he’d cut open, “it was supposed to be there.”

----------------------------------------

The worst of it was over with the knights’ arrival, but the long day hadn’t quite come to an end. He’d been pummeled, tailed his pummelers, ran away from them while carrying Renea, and finally staved them off in a sword fight. The exhaustion of it all was just now hitting him.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

But they still had to go and free the debtors.

While the knights and Ciecout saw to it that the attackers were safely detained, Ailn and Renea waited in a lounge reserved for clergy.

He decided to check in with her because she didn’t look great. It wouldn’t be strange if the chase frightened her, but when she’d come down with Ciecout and saw of the detained attackers, she seemed fairly indifferent.

Ailn had the feeling it was something else. He noticed Renea trembling when they passed through the crypt. She’d turned especially pale at the sight of the ossarium, with its openly displayed bones.

So, if it wasn’t the chase, then…

“Renea, are you uh, afraid of skeletons?” Ailn asked.

“What?” Renea looked at him like it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. “No! I told you I know what catacombs are!”

“Alright, then what’s got you scared?” Ailn asked. “Talk to me.”

Renea froze. Then, slowly, her expression turned anxious and her eyes fell to the ground. She seemed to be debating whether she should say anything at all.

“...It’s the catacombs,” Renea said. She bit her lip. “Do you really have to go?”

“Are you scared here alone?” Ailn arched an eyebrow.

“No, it’s not that,” Renea said. Turning her face away and crossing her arms, she looked like she was trying to keep herself from trembling. “I saw... I heard something down there. I—I heard a voice just like yours…”

“Mine?” Ailn tapped his head thoughtfully, “I might have been cursing at the time. I don’t really remember.”

“No,” Renea shook her head and brought her voice to a whisper. “There’s something evil in the catacombs, Ani… a monster of some kind.”

“Ani? A monster… what?” Ailn blinked. He wasn’t even sure which part to respond to.

“Ailn’s Ailn, and you’re Ani,” Renea said. Then she continued her explanation without missing a beat. “And what I heard down there, they were speaking exactly like… like the real Ailn.”

“You hear your dead brother’s voice and your first thought is it’s something evil?”

“Ailn’s soul passed on. I’m sure of it,” Renea said testily. “He wouldn’t be stuck in some catacombs. Whatever’s down there can imitate the human voice… or read people’s memories, maybe.”

Ailn paused before responding, keeping his voice calm but casual.

“You know, it’s only been a week since the inquisition,” Ailn said, maintaining eye contact that was both steady and gentle. “The space you were going through was dark and cramped. And you were down there for a while. It—”

“I didn’t imagine it!” Renea snapped. Her face turned even further away as it wrinkled into hurt.

“...Alright. You didn’t imagine it. What else happened?”

Blinking a few times, Renea sighed and moved on. “After I heard the voice… I felt a chill run down my back, and a shadow that wasn’t mine passed across the light of the artifact.”

“You mean someone ran past you?” Ailn asked.

“No…” Renea shook her head. “I mean the thing that ran past me was a shadow itself.”

Fiddling with his wrist, Ailn closed his eyes briefly in thought. “If you really saw something, that’s all the more reason for me to check it out.”

“I thought you’d say that…” Renea’s shoulders sagged, and her lip quivered. But she didn’t try to stop him. “Please—please be careful, okay…?”

----------------------------------------

Ailn hadn’t seen much as when led the knights through the tunnels. He wasn’t dismissing what Renea said—he just didn’t see or hear anything himself. At least when it came to the supernatural.

What he did discover was extremely natural, however creepy it was, and it was right below the chamber they’d burst into after Kylian had destroyed the ‘door.’

It was a desiccated human liver.

This would normally be an incredibly menacing find that hinted at a terrible conspiracy. But it made perfect sense in its context, which became clear to Ailn once he had some time to properly examine the environment.

“There’s… some kind of mural here,” Ailn mumbled. “And there’s verses on the wall?”

“This whole area must be the lower chamber for the tomb,” Kylian remarked, with dawning realization.

A corpse had likely been mummified here, and its organs preserved. It definitely fit thematically with the sarcophagus at the top. The question was where the mummy was hiding.

Before Ailn could examine any further, though, the other knights made their displeasure clear. They were here for a specific reason: to free the debtors.

And they were right. Whatever was in this chamber could wait.

When they’d arrived in the staging chamber, all the debtors were sitting around just happy to have a long break. It had been a couple hours, but as far as Ailn could tell, none of them had even tried to run.

Including Ceric.

“My friend!” Ceric exclaimed upon catching sight of Ailn. “I knew you’d come for me!”

“...Did you, Ceric?” Ailn asked, tiredly.

“Nightwriter told me so!” Ceric explained. “Just last week, I asked how I could distinguish those friends who would hold true—and it told me: ‘A friend only asks for your time, not your money.’ And the wisdom only hit me, as I was there in that tunnel striking rock with a pickaxe. Who could that speak of but Ailn? All this time, I’d been chasing after friendship with Geoff like a fool…”

“I would be shocked if Geoff ever asked for your money,” Ailn sighed. “But sure. He wasn’t a true friend.”

In fact, the irritable merchant hadn’t pretended to be Ceric’s friend at all. But Ailn kept silent.

“To think we’ve made such a great step in catching The Covenant of the Shrouds.

Ailn continued to keep silent. Even though Kylian a few paces away gave him a troubled look.

The debtors—including Ceric—were all freed. There were dozens of them, and apparently those working in the tunnel only constituted half the debtors. The other half were up at various chapterhouses for a sham guild the small-time criminal ring had established as a front.

The knights would have their work cut out for them.

Apparently, the debtors had all been bound by magical oaths that weren’t even legal within the empire. Thus, they’d have to call for a mage from Sussuro to annul them.

Catching the criminals, meanwhile, wasn’t as messy of an affair as the knights feared—the reason being that Geoff had shamelessly ratted his friends out.

Either they weren’t very bright, or they trusted him too much, because every single one of them had stashed away in bolt holes close by, built for precisely this occasion.

If they’d just made a run for it, a few of them would have escaped. Each criminal, though, had the same idea: hide away while the others get caught running, then use the opportunity to get out of there.

There were eight in total, including Geoff and the curly-haired man back at the cathedral. There was the tall man, the woman, the stone mason, and the other three lackeys who’d attacked Ailn at Ceric’s room in the hostel.

As they were nearing the cathedral, Ailn pulled up next to Kylian quietly.

“I heard Sir Fontaine specifically assigned you to the cathedral as a peacekeeper,” Ailn said. “That means you’re in charge right now. Right?”

“Nominally,” Kylian’s brow furrowed.

“Do you think I could have some time to speak alone with some of the criminals?”

“...Why?” Kylian asked. His tone wasn’t quite suspicious, but it wasn’t curious either. Mostly, he sounded tired.

“I need—” Ailn frowned, realizing he hadn’t come up with an excuse yet. “Because… Renea wants to… talk to them.”

“What?” Kylian clearly didn’t believe him.

“Renea is… scared of ghosts. And skeletons. And I want to make sure she understands that what we ran into today is uh… man. And not monster.” Ailn talked haltingly, fully aware he sounded stupider the longer he rambled. He was too exhausted to come up with anything better. “She needs this Kylian. To… process her grief.”

“...Grief over what?” Kylian sighed. Then he held his temple. “I’ll do what I can.”