Page 260 of Alchemised
That was all Helena managed to make out among the many words she didn’t know. He sounded western.
“Save?” The man pointed at himself.
“No,” Soren said, shaking his head. “We’re looking for someone else.”
“Save.” He pointed at himself again.
“We’re only here for one person,” Soren said, already turning.
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Boy?” He touched his own hair. “Gold?”
They all turned back.
“Is he here?” Helena asked.
The man set his jaw. “Save.” He pointed at himself again.
“We don’t have time to drag around a prisoner,” Soren said. “We’ll find him ourselves.”
“No!” The man sounded terrified now.
Helena studied him. “What’s your name?”
“Vagner,” he said slowly.
The name was familiar. Vagner.
Wagner? That was the name Crowther and Ivy had tortured out of Lancaster.
She turned to Soren. “We’ve been looking for him.”
“Helena.” Soren looked at her with exasperation. “We can’t deal with a prisoner.”
“This one is important. Crowther’s had people trying to find him. If this is where they’re hiding the prisoners they don’t want anyone knowing about, that’s all the more evidence this is a prisoner we need.”
Soren hesitated. “If he slows us down or does anything that puts the mission at risk, I will kill him, and you won’t stop me. Agreed?”
Helena nodded.
Luc wasn’t anywhere on that floor. They ascended again. Hope dwindling. Maybe all these guards were just for Wagner, who followed them, cowering behind her and Purnell as though they were human shields.
They turned a corner and found an immense grey-skinned necrothrall standing in front of the door. He smiled.
Not a necrothrall, then, a lich.
“There you are,” he said in a rasping voice, raising a huge spiked club, as his other hand rapped a warning on the door behind him. “I wondered if the remaining Bayards might show up. Two down and two to go.” He paid no attention to Soren, his focus on Sebastian. “That pretty niece of yours made a sound like a rotten gourd when I ran her through. You should have seen how fast your Principate dropped his sword when she fell.”
Sebastian stilled Soren. “Who are you?”
The lich smiled again, the corpse’s bloated lips splitting into a rotten grin. “Don’t you recognise me, Sebastian? I’d think you would, after all the effort you and Apollo put into executing me. Afraid it didn’t stick. Not like the axe did when I split your brother’s skull.”
“Atreus,” Sebastian said, his voice soft, but his grip on his weapon tightening.
Helena stared in horror. Kaine’s father was still alive?
Before she could process the revelation, both paladins attacked, and Atreus swung at them. The wall exploded, tile and stone flying, dust filling the air. The hallway was narrow, a tiny combat space in which speed was a far greater advantage than size and muscle. If Atreus landed a blow, he would have killed Sebastian and Soren, but he had to hit them. They were faster, slicing at him a dozen times before he could raise the club and give it momentum.
The other wall cracked open as Atreus swung again.
