Rebirth of the Nephilim

Chapter 397: Audience

Chapter 397: Audience

“Paladin Lucia,” Hraustrekr said as he passed by the pale therion.

“Your majesty.”

The woman nodded at the prince, her face impassive as she continued to check the last of the injured nobles and servants who were being taken out of the pastry shop. There weren’t many left, but those who were still inside stared at the gathering with wide eyes. Jadis had no doubt that the meeting of the First Prince, the Hero, and the Last of the Nephilim was going to be a hot topic on the rumor mill, even with the attack on the city. Maybe more so, because of the attack.

There wasn’t a ton of space in the front end of the pastry shop, but there was enough room that as the prince strode into the space, everyone seemed to make way for the man. Jay, Wilhelm, and everyone else who was near her were clustered around the shop’s main window, which was a decent number of paces away from the front door, but not so far that the people being escorted out wouldn’t be able to overhear anything said. Jadis wasn’t sure if having an audience would affect whatever the idiot prince was going to do, but she doubted he was going to have anything nice to say.

“Prince Hraustrekr,” Wilhelm said as he turned towards the approaching elf. “Lucia has almost finished checking everyone here, and Jadis and her companions have searched the whole floor. It seems the cultist who was hiding in their numbers has slipped away, your majesty.”

“Of course,” the gold-skinned elf said as he took the helmet off of his head. “Not much has gone right this night. No reason to hope for better results now.”

“Things could be a lot worse,” Wilhelm started to say, but Hraustrekr waved him off.

“Yes, yes, your timely arrival has saved many lives. But the utter failure of the city guard or any of the many paladin orders who are supposed to protect the city is undeniable. Measures will have to be taken to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. That is a talk for later. We will need to focus on the here and now to resolve the immediate threat.”

Putting his hand on the Hero’s shoulder, Hraustrekr gave the human a firm nod and a grim smile.

“Runar has already led his company down into the tunnels that the Demons used to breach the upper city around the palace bridge. Tiernan is with him. I want you to take the rest of your companions down this breach, along with the royal knights I have brought with me. Make sure the undercity is safe. I will be at the north side upper river port, another site that was attacked. Send word if you find anything of note.”

“Of course, sir,” Wilhelm said, his voice stern as stone. The Hero took the helm from under his arm and reequipped it. When he spoke again, it was with that vaguely hollow echo that came from wearing a helmet. “We won’t let another innocent life be lost this night.”

“Good,” Hraustrekr said as he clapped the Hero’s shoulder. “Now, off with you.”

With that, Wilhelm departed. Jocelyn followed right behind him, tossing a wave and a hasty bow towards Jadis and the others as she left. The rest of the Hero’s companions were already outside, except for Lucia, who continued her duty by the door, making sure that every person was checked before leaving. Jadis and her companions were, essentially, left alone with the First Prince.

The others were quiet as they watched the armored elven man. Jay was at the fore, Alex still hanging on her shoulder, though the Demon had shifted around slightly so that more of her was between Jay and the prince. Jadis knew that her positioning was an attempt at protection, but considering what she knew of Alex’s condition, she wasn’t particularly happy with the move. As subtly as she could, Jay angled herself so that Alex wasn’t between her and Hraustrekr. While most everyone else stood to the side and behind Jay, with even the confused Sabina having gone silent, Kerr had stubbornly moved so that she was standing partially in front of Jay on Alex’s side. The extra layer of protection was appreciated, though the thought of the outspoken archer addressing the First Prince was almost frightening. Jadis could just imagine what Aila was thinking.

Syd, Thea, and Bridget had come out from the back room and stood further away, watching the confrontation as well. Jadis was glad the two were far enough away that they were outside of the prince’s immediate attention, as Thea looked like she was about to have a meltdown and Bridget had turned several shades of green lighter from the blood draining from her face.

Jadis hesitated for a moment. The bold approach usually worked for her, and she didn’t have any qualms about facing the prince who had been such a bane to her existence as of late. However, now that she had him in front of her, she wasn’t entirely certain what she wanted to say to the elf. Her sudden indecision probably came from her frazzled and exhausted mind; recent revelations and the many trying events of the evening hadn’t left her in the best state to try and engage in verbal banter.

“There you are,” Hraustrekr turned his head back towards Jay. “Evidence strongly indicates you were not involved. Now, if any new evidence should be discovered that shows you did have some connection to all of this, we’ll revisit that assessment. But for now, I see no reason to waste any more time on a matter that isn’t going to go anywhere, and clearly never was.”

The next words that the elf spoke were so soft that Jadis almost didn’t hear them, and Hraustrekr was careful to keep his face angled so that only Jay and her companions could see his lips.

“My brother has wasted more than enough of both our time as is.”

When Hraustrekr turned to leave again, Jadis didn’t try to stop him a second time. She watched as the haughty asshole exited the building, and listened as he called out orders to soldiers in the distance before leaping on the back of his armored unicorn. In just a few moments, the man was gone, riding off down the road towards the riverside, where he was apparently dealing with another area the Demons had attacked.

The whole interaction had just left Jadis puzzled and exhausted. Why wouldn’t the antagonistic bastard take advantage of the opportunity to screw her over? She could easily see how the man could try and blame the attack on her and Alex. He had already accused her of being related to the cult of Samleos. The rumor mill around the city was rife with stories of her consorting with Demons thanks to her relationship with Alex. It wouldn’t be that hard to tweak the narrative and further ruin Jadis’ reputation. Maybe even turn the night into something he could use to more permanently imprison her. Why would he back off now?

One possibility stuck out to Jadis’ mind.

“I am so confused,” Sabina broke the silence.

“You and me both,” Kerr growled. “Why in the abyss is that no-dick duck fucker just walking away? I thought for sure he was going to try and arrest us.”

“Because he hasn’t come this far by being foolish,” Aila sighed. “If he was, Kestil would have taken the crown from him already.”

“You’re right,” Jay huffed. “He’s smarter than I thought he would be. He’s not treating us like criminals anymore because he knows that the Hero would know that it would be a lie. I bet if Wilhelm hadn’t made it to the city tonight, Hraustrekr would have absolutely used this as an opportunity to go after me. Now he can’t because Wilhelm and his companions know that’d be bullshit.”

“And I am quite certain that Sir Wilhelm has far more sway with the public at large than Prince Hraustrekr does,” Eir commented, speaking up for the first time in a while. “You will also find that far more nobles are on your side now than there had been before tonight. You saved many lives.”

Jadis hoped that was true. She still wasn’t certain that Prince Hraustrekr wasn’t planning on trying to use the attack against her in some way. But if the jackass was going to be smarter than she would have liked, backing off from this particular fight because he saw no way to use it to his advantage wasn’t something Jadis could reasonably complain about. There would be other battles to be fought, she was sure.

“No, that’s now what I’m confused about,” Sabina said as she twisted around in Dys’ embrace. “I mean, yes, I’m extremely confused by everything the prince just said and what you all just said and all of that, but I’m still confused about what happened? I mean, what happened? I assume there was some kind of Demon attack, but why are we in a pastry shop? And was that the Hero just now? I’m really lost.”

“It’s okay,” Dys smirked as she patted Sabina on the back. “We’ll explain on the way back to the temple. This whole night turned out way, way different from what I expected, in a more ways than one.”

“Speaking of heading back,” Sorcha perked up as she looked out of the window at the dark, crowded street filled with soldiers and snow. “What are the chances of our carriages still being around?”

Jadis let out a long, weary sigh. It was going to be cold walk back to Lyssandria’s High Temple.