“I can’t believe they made us wait outside,” Gary said. As they walked, the two monstrous figures ranged ahead. Both emanated searing heat, so Gary and Farrah didn’t keep them close.

“I can believe they made you wait outside,” Farrah told Gary.

“Maybe we’ll catch some cultists,” Jason said.

“That’d be nice,” Gary said.

“How long do these summons last?” Jason asked.

“Depends on your power level,” Farrah said. “A few hours for me and Gary.”

It was around an hour later that Rufus came out to find them. He looked down the row of scorched archways cutting a straight line through the hedge maze.

“You said flush them out,” Gary said defensively.

“You were unspecific as to how,” Farrah added.

“Well,” Jason said, “he did point at you and say, ‘no unnecessary damage, this means you.’”

“Whose side are you on?” Gary asked.

“Justice.”

Farrah snorted a laugh.

“Did you actually find anyone?” she asked.

“There was one guy in some kind of storeroom,” Gary said.

“Did you get anything out of him?” Rufus asked.

“The storeroom kind of burned down with him in it,” Gary said.

Rufus shook his head.

“We found a carriage shed missing a carriage,” Jason said. “It looked like they left in a hurry. Seems like someone raided the valuables and made a run for it, not even stopping to pick up the stuff they dropped.”

“Cowards,” Gary said.

“They can’t be cowards,” Jason said. “They would have needed those horrifying monsters to pull the carriage.”

“Monsters?” Rufus asked.

“They’re not monsters,” Gary said. “Heidels are just normal animals.”

Jason had his first encounter with a heidel when they found the stables. They were the size and shape of a horse, but with scales instead of hair and two heads, each of which had a horn sticking out of the forehead. To Jason’s eyes it looked like someone had put two unicorns and a lizard in a teleporting machine and they came out blended together.

“They’re horrifying.”

“If you think they’re bad,” Farrah said, “you’re in for it when you see an actual monster.”

“What did you find?” Gary asked Rufus.

“We found a few people squirreled away. After those cultists came back, the lord of the manor cleared out the vault and they all took off, leaving the staff behind.”

“Wasn’t the lord that high priest guy?” Gary asked.

“Apparently not,” Farrah said.

“What did you do with the cultists you caught?” Jason asked.

“We questioned them and then we killed them,” Rufus said, matter-of-factly.

“You just executed prisoners?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Farrah asked.

Jason ran a hand over his face, the energy draining out of him.

“Oh, damn it.”

18. One of Us

18

One of Us

With their sweep through the manor house, the group completed their mission. The cultists were dead or running and they found plenty of documentation pointing them to the main cult.