Ava and Antony have disappeared into the shadows ahead of Eliana, Raeldon and I, and, though I can no longer see them, I know relatively where they should be. I hope they’re going to be careful. This is a dangerous city, and Azaes most likely knows we’re here.

But he doesn’t know where we are at this moment, and that is the most important thing.

It had not been my intention before, nor my prerogative, to reestablish this city’s government. But with Amyry’s foster brother added to the mix, it seems that now is my time to intervene. Azaes seems to be every bit as ruthless and cruel as Amyry was, and I wonder if Ava knows this pale tiefling as she did the drow. I think not. She seemed as surprised as we were when we learned of Azaes.

I crouch in the cold, dark shadows of the alley, watching the guards go about their rounds, and memorizing their numbers and routine. Beside me, Eliana mutters to herself, her keen eyes searching out the prison’s defenses, making calculations, assessing and reassessing. Raeldon whispers little observances of his in her ear, and she nods as she adjusts her calculations.

A whisper of sound reaches my ears from behind us, and I stand swiftly, whirling and drawing my sword.

In the alleyway behind us stands a pale tiefling clad in full armor, a massive, silvery-violet mage-sword leaning at rest on his shoulder. A dark energy swirls around his form, and he’s at the head of a full company of soldiers, every one of them with their sword drawn. Every one of them ready to kill.

Azaes. It has to be.

Raeldon and Eliana react just a second after I do, and an uncharacteristic curse comes from the sage’s lips.

“Take them.” The pale tiefling orders, pointing at us with a steel-gauntleted fist. A cruel smirk curves his pale lips. The soldiers surge forward.

The fighting is fierce, and we are driven back, out of the alleyway, into the street in front of the prison. Antony meets us there, fighting desperately to defend himself. He’s bleeding from a few minor wounds. Avalon is absent. A cold hand of fear clenches my heart.

“Where is Ava!” I shout over the clamor of battle.

“Gone!” Antony shouts back.

“Dead?!” My voice cracks, and I bat away an opponent’s blade. These soldiers aren’t giving up, aren’t dying, aren’t even taking any wounds that I can see. That fear inside me grows colder and harder, and I silently cry out to Elhim. I cannot hear if He answers.

“Not dead!” Antony shouts at me. “Gone!”

I have no time to ask where or why, as Azaes enters the battle. He targets Raeldon, and I am helpless to watch as he slashes my friend across his ribs and then brings the pointed pommel of his sword down between Raeldon’s horns. The sage crumples, bleeding profusely. He lies there on the cobblestones, limp and motionless.

“NO!” I scream, and batter desperately at the soldiers surrounding me. “Elhim!”

I hear no answer.

The dark force around Azaes swirls and swells, and seems to strengthen the enemies around us. It is but mere moments more before we are overwhelmed. My sword is torn from my grasp, and a steel-gauntleted fist smashes into my gut. I double over and sag to my knees, gasping and retching. My companions get like treatment.

My arms are jerked behind my back and I am bound with cold chains. Antony struggles as Eliana is bound; the rogue gets a boot to the face for his trouble.

“Well, well, well.” Azaes gloats, circling us softly. “We meet at last, Daniel.”

“Am I supposed to know you?” I ask, peering up at him. “Or just the demon you’re harboring?”

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“Ah, yes, Catarsus.” The pale tiefling winds his fingers through the dark tendrils of energy swirling around him. The demon seems to pulse and purr with pleasure around Azaes. “He and I have been waiting for you… Tell me, Daniel, do you not wonder how I knew you were coming? How I knew where to find you tonight? Why your God has not answered you? Catarsus knows everything, and he is powerful enough that even Elhim cannot contend with him.”

Now it is my turn to smirk.

“That is where you’re wrong. Catarsus knows only what he is permitted to know, does only what he is permitted to do. And he is no match for my God. Beware you, Azaes, demons tend to turn on those who think them friends. You think you are in control now, but Catarsus could erase you in a heartbeat and puppet the shell that remains. Elhim allowed me to fall into your hands tonight, perhaps for the purpose of ending both you and Catarsus, the scourges upon this city that you are. Even if you kill me, Elhim is still in control, and He will end you by other means. I am expendable. You are expendable, Azaes, as I am sure you will find out if Catarsus ever tires of you.”

The pale tiefling’s smirk vanishes into a fierce snarl of fury, and darkness flickers in his light blue eyes. He lashes out and the back of his open hand smacks across my face. Light erupts in my vision. Pain blooms. The metallic tang of blood fills my mouth. I am sent sprawling, and my head strikes something hard and cold. The light flares brighter behind my eyes, the pain rises to a skull-splitting crescendo, and—

Darkness.

There is darkness and pain.

“Daniel?” Someone calls my name, sounding faint, like they’re far away. “Wake up, Daniel.”

I blink my eyes open, pain flaring in my head at the light beyond my eyelids. It doesn’t matter the light is dim, nearly nonexistent. It stabs into my eyes like lances.

I must be severely concussed.

Eliana is sitting next to me, Antony’s head in her lap. The elf looks rather worse for the wear. He groans softly as Eliana gently bathes his swollen face with a damp rag. Raeldon is nowhere to be seen, and a pang of sorrow strikes me.

“Lay still, Daniel.” Eliana says. “I’ll get to you in a minute.”

“Take your time.” I reply hoarsely. I struggle to sit up, ignoring my friend’s protests. Cradle my head in my hands, waiting for the pain and nausea to subside. Chains clink softly as I move, and I realize that all three of us are fettered at the wrists and ankles to long lengths of chains bolted to the dank, stone walls around us. A cold, heavy weight rests on my collarbone, gently squeezing my throat. I reach up a hand and run my fingers softly over an iron mage collar, designed to keep me from using magic. Both my companions wear one as well. The collars glow softly.

It is a good thing that mage collars are powerless against Elhim. His Presence swells softly around us, breathing new life and strength into us, soothing our hurts.

“Thank you.” I whisper.

Stay steadfast and be ready.

The God’s whisper fills my ears, nearly sundering my mind and eardrums, before fading away. I swallow hard, quailing even as strength fills me.

“How long was I out?” I ask Eliana.

“An hour, give or take.” She replies. Light flares in the corridor outside our cell, and I hear the steps of many booted feet on the floor. Azaes and a squad of guards appear outside our cell and stop in front of the iron grille of a door. Azaes smirks coldly.

“Catarsus and I have some questions for you, paladin.” He says as a guard unlocks the door. The portal squeals open on rusty hinges. The soldiers swarm in, pushing Eliana and Antony back against the walls. Two of them haul me to my feet and release me from my chains.

“Daniel!” Eliana and Antony cry as I am dragged from the cell. The cell door slams shut behind me and I am marched away, out of sight of my friends.

I am taken to a fair-sized room deep within the prison, a room filled all manner of instruments of torture. Despite myself, my breath hitches in my chest. I concentrate on staying calm. Panicking won’t help anything. Elhim will never desert me, no matter the trials.

I must stay steadfast.

Azaes faces me and we stare each other down. It is he who finally looks away, and Catarsus seethes in anger around the pale tiefling.

“Daniel,” Azaes purrs in the voice of a man who knows he holds great power, “how much pain are you willing to endure for your friends and your God?”

“As much as I need to.” I answer him calmly, feeling utter peace cascade over me.

“Oh, but you need not to.” Azaes grasps my jaw with one cold hand. His eerie blue eyes peer into mine as if seeking to leech the light from my soul. “It would be so easy, Daniel, would it not, to deny your God and serve me?”

I laugh. “That is a deal I would never take. I have all the power and wealth I need in this life. Do what you will.”

Catarsus swirls in violent fury, and Azaes’s face contorts in anger.

“Then suffer!” He snarls. He turns to the guards. “Get whatever information you can from him! I want to know his plans, the movements of the High Clans, where the rest of the vor Elhim are, and where his other friend disappeared off to!”

Then he sweeps from the room in cold fury, as two guards grasp whips and move towards me.

“Answer quickly and truthfully, and you need not suffer. Much.” One of the soldiers chuckles sadistically as two other guards hold me fast.

“Do what you will. You will never get what you want.” I reply through gritted teeth.

“Very well.” He says.

And then the questions and pain begin.