The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 103 - A Guild of Smiling Knives (Patreon)

“Run!” Piper shouted, pointing at the side door to the manor. Wisp didn’t have to be told twice, and she bolted out the door. Piper followed more slowly, carrying most of Eleni’s weight as the woman struggled to walk.

She glanced over at her injured companion. Blood trickled down from the woman’s temple, and the side of her face had begun to swell. She’d need to find her a healer the moment they escaped this place.

As they hobbled forward, they passed another slain guard, the one who had stared at her backside earlier. Beyond the door the man had been guarding, they found the old gatekeeper crumpled in the tiny side gate room.

Whoever was attacking the manor was slaughtering people indiscriminately. There was no need to slay the gatekeeper or any of the servants. For some reason, the attackers had even killed the oxen.

Slipping into the room, she briefly wondered if all the casualties were simply collateral damage. With the sheer number of deadly spells she’d witnessed, the dead might have just been caught in the crossfire.

Any further thoughts disappeared as she felt an immense swell of power. A wave of magic burst out of the manor, making the floor heave. As the ground settled down, they hurried through the second door with pale faces. All that mattered now was escaping.

Reaching the street beyond, Piper searched for Wisp. But the young woman was nowhere to be found. Apparently, the young thief had decided to escape with all the treasure she’d looted from the fallen. Not that she was overly surprised.

“Which way to the guild?” Piper asked. “They have healers there, right?”

Eleni nodded weakly. She then lifted her arm and pointed toward the right.

Piper adjusted her grip to take more of the woman’s weight and then slowly made her way down the street. As they passed under the walls of the manor, she looked up to see the battlements empty. From inside, the sounds of battle grew more frenetic, with explosions and beams of light cutting through the sky.

Increasing her pace, she fought against the urge to look back. As usual, when things went wrong around her, the streets quickly emptied out. Not that the streets had been overly busy lately. With everything going on, anyone who could afford to flee the city had left.

It took a few more minutes before she had enough mana to cast another round of spells. This time, she cancelled Eleni’s illusion, changing the woman back to her old self. Then, she cast [False Face] and [Truthshroud] on herself. Once more, she took on the class and appearance of her alter ego, Anna.

Every time they reached an intersection, she waited for Eleni to guide her. But the woman’s responses were becoming slower. If she had passed out, she would never have found her way back to the guild.

As they crept down the street at a snail’s pace, she thought back to Niko’s instructions. The leader of the Silver Hippogriffs guild had told her to make sure Piper died spectacularly after she rescued Ophelia. But she hadn’t saved her friend, which meant her work wasn’t done yet.

The thought of Ophelia being captured by the Dawnward Host made her blood boil. If Jason were to be believed, tomorrow morning nearly all of her friends in the city would be burned at the stake. She would have to intervene.

At that thought, a raspy voice in her mind whispered, You should slaughter the humans until the streets run red with their blood.

Her eyes widened in shock at hearing the voice outside of [Demonic Fury].

Who are you? she demanded mentally. Why are you in my mind?

But no answer came, leaving her with yet another worry. Was the voice a part of her demonic side? Or was it something more dangerous? She would need to figure it out as soon as she rescued her friends.

The thought of saving her friends gave her pause. After the battle in the street, the nuns would know exactly what to expect. She knew they would be ready to deal with her illusions and demonic summons. And she imagined there would be hordes of guards and adventurers protecting a public burning.

Not for the first time, she realized she wasn’t nearly strong enough. She felt a sense of hopelessness settle over her as she considered her predicament. Not even a demoness could take on an entire city.

Continuing down the street, she felt her resolve harden. She’d faced vampires, rot mages, and necromancers. To save her friends, she would do whatever it took. But that meant she needed to use her class to its full potential.

As soon as her magic returned, she would summon Sarnyxia to learn anything she could from the shadeling demoness. With a bit of luck, the infernal creature might be able to teach her a few spells she didn’t know.

Afterward, she would repeat the process with Gretch. The little imp didn’t have the same class, but he might be able to teach her a few demonic skills. And maybe she could return the favor. She hadn’t seen either of them use [Demonic Blood].

Piper decided to spend the rest of the night trying to emulate the other spells she’d seen Elaraxa use. Her Shadowflame Temptress class had also stated something about standing in the middle of demonic legions. Could she summon more demons?

Glancing up at the setting sun, she realized there was a lot to do and not much time to do it. The moment she got Eleni to a healer, she’d find a secluded place in the city to practice her magic. She briefly wondered if the Dancing Gnome Inn was still deserted.

Her thoughts drifted as they passed buildings and scenes of what looked like pitched battles. On one street, several wagons had been overturned, and the surrounding buildings had been scorched by flames. Fresh blood was splattered across the wagons and the dusty ground.

Piper warily crept forward, still supporting Eleni, and kept a sharp eye out for any danger. What had happened here? As they rounded an overturned wagon, the sight of two scattered skeletons answered her questions.

This had been an attack by the undead. With all the unrest in the city, the cults were probably having a field day. The sound of shouts in the distance made her redouble her pace. Neither of them was in any shape for another fight.

“We need to keep moving,” Eleni gasped, obviously coming to the same conclusion.

Together, they finally reached the bridge stretching across the river. But she frowned at seeing Eleni had directed her to the Echoforos Bridge. She really hated crossing the gossamer-thin structure, seemingly hovering over the river. She didn’t care if it was magic; it felt like it would collapse into the rushing waters below at any second.

Thankfully, the bridge was nearly deserted, with only a single horse-drawn cart trundling across.

Piper fixed her gaze on the far shore and walked in a straight line. As long as she didn’t look over the edge, she should be fine. Or look over the side. Or look down at her feet.

“Are you alright?” Eleni asked, her words slurring slightly. After speaking, her head drooped. “You… don’t look so good.”

“I don’t like this bridge,” Piper replied before adding, “I can’t swim.”

“Oh.”

Piper felt an upswell of grief as she remembered Selene’s promise to teach her to swim. Maybe if she wouldn’t sink like a stone in the river, she might not mind crossing this bridge that much.

As her mind once again turned to the rot mage, she thought of a hundred things she could have done differently in the battle. She could have thrown up an illusory wall to protect them. She could have hidden them from sight.

Piper had been so caught up in protecting her identity that she’d allowed one of her few friends to die. Perhaps she could even have saved Selene’s life if she’d returned with the money from the undead cult immediately. Instead, she’d focused on trying to collect enough to heal both of the injured young women.

Piper felt vaguely guilty as she realized she would have chosen Selene over Althea. But to be fair, she’d been far closer to the jester. She just desperately wished she could go back and redo that day again.

If only demons had time-travel abilities.

Shaking her head, she gathered her wits as they approached the gates. Strangely, the doors were shut and a dozen guards stood in front of them. The men and women watched them nervously as they approached.

“Who goes there?” a woman shouted, stepping forward. She leveled her spear at them.

Eleni reached down and pulled out a silver medallion with a hippogriff emblazoned on it. “We’re… we’re members of the Silver…”

As the woman’s words trailed off, she slumped forward. Her breath became labored, and she jerked in Piper’s grasp.

“Open the gates!” the guard called up. She walked over to examine Eleni before raising her gaze to regard Piper. “Best get her to a healer immediately.”

Piper nodded, her lips forming a straight line with worry. She wasn’t completely sure how to get back to the guild hall. And any delay might prove catastrophic.

“Would you mind showing me the way?” Piper asked, wincing slightly as the guard shot her a look. “I only joined the guild yesterday and I can’t remember the way back.”

“I suppose I can take you there.” She turned and pointed at another man. “You’re in charge until I get back. Understood?”

The man saluted with a hand against his chest. Then he strode forward and motioned for the others to retake their positions.

The female guard led them into the city, and the moment the three of them were inside, the gates swung shut behind them. There were no signs of anyone inside, so they must operate through magic or hidden machinery.

The guard glanced over at Piper, her face tight. “How bad is it out there? I haven’t been on patrol since yesterday.”

“Pretty bad,” she admitted. “We saw some undead and something much worse.”

The woman pushed back her helmet, allowing auburn hair to spill out. “What’s worse than the undead?”

“I’m not sure,” she replied, thinking back to the Ares manor. “But they were killing a lot of people.”

“Bloody do-nothing nuns,” the guard whispered before her eyes widened. “I didn’t mean that…”

“It’s fine,” Piper said, reassuring the woman. “I’m not a fan of them either. They… took my friend.”

The guard relaxed slightly. “Sorry to hear about your friend. The bastards burned my cousin the other day. All he did was say, ‘By Infernus’s beard’ in the market. Who burns someone for something like that?

The guard paused before continuing, her face twisting with rage. “They should have known burning all those people would cause these problems. Anyone who can afford to is leaving, and the cults are growing more brazen by the day. And a lot of the guilds are supremely pissed off at them as well. Feeding their precious wayfarers and adventurers into a battle against an infernal caster? I wouldn’t be surprised if a guild leader takes out that head nun any day.”

“They’ve been burning people?” Piper’s mouth dropped open in shock. “How many?”

The guard shrugged. “Must be in the hundreds by now. Maybe more.”

At those words, something seemed to snap inside Piper. She felt her attitude toward the red-robed woman harden. A lot of people deserved mercy in this world, but they didn’t.  

Piper needed to stop them before any more innocents died. Tomorrow, she wouldn’t hold back.

The guard glanced over at her with a worried expression. “I probably shouldn’t have told you all that.”

“My lips are sealed,” Piper said. “I won’t tell anyone. I swear.”

Her response made the guard sag with relief. “Anyway, I’m leaving first thing tomorrow. Trying to burn the heretic’s cult members? That’s sure to cause trouble. I need this job. But I need to keep living more.”

Piper only nodded in response.

The rest of the short journey was spent in silence, and after an awkward pause, the guard bid her farewell in front of the guildhall.

Turning, Piper approached the gates. As she neared them, they swung open, most likely in response to Eleni’s presence. Or maybe it was her badge that opened the gate.

But unlike last time, a dozen armed adventurers waited beyond. At the sight of them, they lowered their weapons slightly. Yet they remained on edge. A woman ran over and ducked down to check on Eleni. She then motioned for two others to take her.

As the weight was lifted from Piper’s shoulder, she stretched her arms. She might be strong, but carrying dead weight halfway across the city still exerted a strain. When she had time to level up, she really wanted to increase her physical attributes.

A man in silver armor pointed in her direction. He had short black hair, an oft-broken nose, and a scar travelling across his mouth. His piercing eyes almost seemed to bore into her soul. In some ways, he reminded her of the guild master.

“I take it you’re Anna?”

“I am…”

“The guild master wants to see you immediately.”

“Just let me clean up first.”

“Now!” the man barked. “An aspirant does not make the guild master wait.”

She bit down on a retort and followed the man into the fortified building. This time, there were no servants bustling about. No adventurers practiced in the yard either. A tension was in the air that hadn’t been here before.

She continued onward, her feeling of unease deepening. While the guild master coveted her power for his guild, who was to say he wouldn’t turn her in to earn the reward?

A few minutes later, they arrived at the Guild Master’s office. The man accompanying her raised his armored fist and banged on it loudly. A muffled reply came from within.

The man reached across and swung the door open. He glared at Piper. “Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?”

This time she had to grit her teeth not to say anything. But she really didn’t want to make any enemies in the guild yet. Especially if she was planning on joining it in the near future.

Piper slowly entered the room, her stomach falling as she realized the space was crammed full of high-level adventurers. To make matters worse, a very familiar stuffed raven sat on the massive wooden desk in the middle of the office; she recognized it as the artifact that had erased her spells in the battle against the undead cult.

“You wanted to see me,” she whispered, a trickle of cold sweat sliding down her back. She counted six adventurers with melee classes standing against the wall. And an older man, whose power probably rivalled Ares, sat in a chair, watching her intently.

The man wore finely cut clothing, which spoke of immense wealth. His boots didn’t have a speck of dirt on them, and runes had been carved into the soft leather. Though he must be elderly, based on his wrinkled face and grey hair, his eyes were sharp and focused.

Niko rose from his seat and gestured to Piper. “As I was saying, Lord Mayor Constantine, this is the infernal caster the Dawnward Host has been searching for. I believe this will solve all your problems.”

“Crap,” Piper whispered. “Double crap.”