The soldier’s scream was cut off as the Purger’s arm plunged into his flesh. But instead of it resulting in a bloody mess, the arm merged with the soldier’s head, blurring the outlines of Purger and man into each other. The arm holding the soldier then sank into the man’s body.
The soldier started to convulse. His body melted out of its shape, and strange rents in his flesh opened up. The gashes quickly grew teeth, lips, and tongues, covering the man in perfectly shaped human mouths. Barely a second after they had formed, the mouths started laughing.
The soldier desperately reached out for his comrades with the last part of his body that was still recognizable: an arm. The other men could do nothing but watch as the creature engulfed this last appendage.
The most battle-hardened instinct inside the leader forced him to snap out of his horror. “D-disperse!” he managed to shout to his men and he scrambled to his feet.
The soldiers tried to scatter backward, but it was too late. More hands shot out of the Purger and grabbed each of the men.
A small face popped up in one of the Purger’s palms.
“Now,” the face drawled, “we become one. There is no longer fear, or pain… only bliss.”
The face smiled happily as the soldiers screamed and screamed.
It was happening again.
Winia stood in the corner of the room as the Casull siblings packed their things. She wrung her hands, licked her lips, and otherwise did whatever she could to keep her feelings locked inside.
She could remember standing in that very spot after the four assassins had attacked, wishing there was something she could do to make the Casulls stay.
“It’s like deja vu,” Pacifica said, laughing a bit as she loaded a large bag into the coach. She turned to face Winia. “I know I said it before, but… well, I’m sorry, Winia.”
Winia shook her head and said nothing. She was sure that if she opened her mouth she would start crying, and she could tell that Pacifica was trying hard to act like nothing was wrong.
“We’ll come back when we can to give you money for the repairs, but I don’t know how soon that’ll be. I hope you’ll only charge us a little bit of interest, though …I mean—”
Shannon cut in. “Don’t try to weasel out of your debts,” he muttered.
Pacifica spun around to face him. “Hey!” she snapped. “You’re the one who destroyed the wall in the first place! I’m trying to be a kind sister and apologize on your behalf!”
“Hey,” a quiet voice called.
Winia looked up. Safir Colt appeared from around the corner of a building, a small bundle gripped in his hands. He walked over to where the siblings loaded their coach.
“I was afraid this would happen,” he mumbled. “Are you really leaving?”
Raquel bowed politely. “Thank you for everything, Mister Colt.”
Safir frowned. Winia was relieved to see neither fear nor hatred in his face. If anything, she thought she saw regret.
“I’m really sorry to see you go,” he said quietly. “But by this time tomorrow, the citizen’s patrol will drive you out of town. I don’t know where those rumors began, but now that everything’s gone this far anyway, I think you’re making the right decision to leave before the townspeople come after you. It’ll be better for everyone this way.”
The innkeeper sighed. Carefully, he unwrapped the package resting in his arms.
“This is a farewell gift. If it won’t be in your way, I hope you’ll take it on your travels.”
Inside was an old lute, the same one Shannon had played at the Wild Horse Inn. It had obviously seen a lot of use over the years—the body of the instrument was scratched and worn, but the important parts were in excellent shape. Safir handed the instrument to Raquel.
“Iris has been saying that she wants a new one,” Safir explained. “I’m sorry it’s used, but I thought you might get good use out of it.”
In a surprising moment, Winia saw clear, painful longing in Shannon’s dark eyes. Raquel handed Shannon the lute, and he cradled it in his hands.
Safir shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re fighting against, but I do know that you shouldn’t cut ties with your past. It’s easy to throw away your dreams and hopes and memories. But a person needs more than just a sword to live.”
Shannon looked up, his forehead creased. “Safir…”
“Don’t give up on the everyday world. Do what you have to do, fight the battles you have to fight, just don’t become a person whose life is nothing but violence and death.”
Shannon took a breath, then smiled a faint, tired smile.
“Thanks,” he said quietly. “I’ll remember that.”
Luke stared at the paper that a subordinate held out to him. He furrowed his eyebrows at the soldier.
“A message from the capital?”
“Yes, sir.”
Luke took the offered letter. “Zard,” he read at loud. “Emergency message for all units—temporarily freeze current mission. Orders to para-combat dispatch teams three and six: in the case of an encounter with the Scrapped Princess, note change in orders from ‘Procedure 1, Eliminate’ to ‘Procedure 2, Surveillance.’ Please modify tactics accordingly.”
Chris raised his eyebrows. “Freeze the mission?” he repeated in surprise.
“It seems my concerns were well-founded,” Luke commented without looking up. “The leadership is divided over the handling of the Scrapped Princess. I’ve heard that even within senior headquarters there is an increasing number of officials who support capturing the princess over her elimination.”
Chris nodded. He had shared his superior’s concerns of a divided headquarters.
“It seems that even the Church has learned about this development. They’ve sent off a secret document, signed by Royal Chamberlain himself, ordering that this whole town be eliminated.”
Chris blinked. “What?” he blurted. “I certainly hope you’re kidding, sir.”
Luke shrugged. “We were prepared to do the same, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Whatever we do, it’s clear that the military, the Church, and the royal family are no longer working toward the same goals. We have to handle this situation carefully or we may end up fighting the Church’s forces.”
Chris paused to think about the new information. “Understood,” he murmured at last. “Should I go to one of the teams and inform them of the change in orders?”
Luke nodded. “That would be helpful.”
“Colonel!”
One of the Blackhawk soldiers ran toward Luke, stumbling as he went. It was an unusual sight—the Black-hawks were trained to deal calmly with any situation, yet the soldier was obviously panicked. When he stopped to clutch his chest in an attempt to catch his breath, Chris could see that he was shaking.
Luke clearly didn’t approve. “What’s going on, Slay?” he asked. “Get ahold of yourself.”
“Sir! It’s… an emergency!” The soldier gasped for air and nearly choked on his words. “The men… all dead… the Purger…” He trailed off, his face contorted with fear.
Luke’s blue eyes narrowed.
The carriage passed through the gate, leaving the town of Taurus behind.
Pacifica twisted in her seat. She obviously wanted to catch one last glimpse of the town they’d grown so fond of, but Shannon knew it wasn’t a good idea.
He touched her arm. “Don’t look back,” he said, his voice unusually gentle. “It’ll just make this harder.”
Pacifica turned back in the direction they were headed, her face falling. “You’re probably right,” she mumbled, looking down at her toes.
“Pacifica.”
“Yeah?”
“Get inside the cabin.”
An arrow suddenly flew through the air, straight for the back of Pacifica’s head; Shannon lunged and managed to catch it before it reached its target. He shoved his sister into the cabin and discarded the arrow.
“Hey!” Shannon shouted into the scenery that hid the attackers. “I’m having a pretty crappy day. If you’re planning to attack me, you’d better be prepared for the worst.”
In response, arrows soared out of the woods from multiple directions. There were at least four archers in the brush, if not more.