Page 48 (1/2)

You’re a priest? The s at ain They were persistent bastards, that was for sure A Dušan appeared – Azriel’s, not rabbed it with a snap of its teeth, then flung it away Then it whirled around s It was aliven what Azriel had said, asn’t the priest doing so was an intruder, it was these fucking things

Once, yes, the voice replied I remain to protect

The structure up ahead drew closer, clearer It consisted of two high, soaring but simple arches that stood side by side, neither one particularly ornate At least they didn’t appear so froood job of it, are you?

Up until that point, I’d felt no real malevolence from the remnant that was the priest, but the rew dark and thunderous, and it suddenly see on the precipice of an endless pit And that the priest stood behind h the far reaches of hts, but her noise waswho confronted us was not so

You have no justification --

I haven’t? I cut in Perhaps stupidly, given Azriel’s earlier warning about the rereat harm if they decide you’re an intruder Then why is hell’s first portal open? And why the hell have you allowed a sorcerer bearing the second portal key to get so close to opening it?

There is no one in this place but you and me and the reaper who battles the twisted Dušan within private temple quarters

No one here? Incredulity filled my mental tones What the fuck do you call the shadoho runs ahead of us? And what do you call the things that chase er briefly lifted, and an odd sense of baffle us The Dušan battle so, but I cannot sense what

I frowned Hoas that even possible? He ht be a remnant, but he was still of this place, these teuise not only her presence, but that of her creatures?

And if this priest couldn’t sense her presence, what chance would the reapers who guard hell’s gate have of seeing her?

The answer, I suspected, was a big fat zero

There is ic that is powerful and dark It has the taste of hell, and yet this place runs through it

This place? What the hell did he ed Lucian Maybe he’d not only been teaching the sorceress Aedh ic as well He’d been trapped on Earth for centuries after all – certainly ic, be it light or dark

And maybe she was his very last throw of the dice Maybe, if all else failed, the destruction of the place that had becoarand plans for freedoh the left arch and disappeared I swore Time had run out We had seconds left, if that, to stop her

Can you stop the intruders hidden within that ic? Or, at the very least, contain theates? No

Naturally Ieasy noould it?

Why not? I thought Aedh priests are the guardians of the gates?

I am not what I once was, he said, his voice so heavy it sees that chase you, but I aer able to enter the portal’s sacred space

Why not?

Because I will be forced to move on, and this place would be left unprotected

Are you all that is left?

No, but we are still few

Then gather the few and stop the things that chase me I’ll take care of the sorceress

He seeestion, then said, Stray not from hell’s path, reaperess, or you will find yourself compelled into a realm that is not your destiny