“In the Duskwallow Graveyard,” Ewan said apologetically.
I recoiled. “What?! You sent a single person in that cursed place to perform an exorcism?!” I exclaimed, all thoughts of sparing him the embarrassment of public shaming flying right out of my mind.
“He’s just a minor dabbler, a beginner at best,” Ewan argued feebly.
“The monsters dwelling in that wretched place are a massive threat on their own!” I countered disbelievingly. “Vivian, how proficient are you?”
“I’ve exorcised demons from the Seventh and Eight Circles,” she replied proudly with a hefty amount of assurance, which I hoped wasn’t in fact misplaced arrogance.
“Perfect. You will come with me,” I said in a commanding tone before glaring at the Prefect. “We will finish this later.”
Not giving him a chance to respond, I gestured for Vivian to follow as I stormed out of the room. With determined steps, I marched outside to my Galadia, pleased to see someone on the staff had given her some feed and water.
Shauna hurried to our side, having apparently been lurking nearby.
“You’re already leaving us?” she asked, the hint of worry in her voice piquing my curiosity.
It then struck me that, as a novice, she had to be growing increasingly nervous about her blossoming career when so many of her new Sisters were going missing at such an alarming rate.
“I’m going to look for Sister Sienna,” I said in a reassuring tone while retrieving some essential tools from the heavy bag attached to my mount.
“Oh! I’m glad to hear it!” she exclaimed with palpable relief.
I smiled. While displeased by the blatant lack of discipline in the Sanctum, I couldn’t blame her for the absence of proper guidance from her superiors. Instead, my protective instincts surged at the thought this innocent young woman—almost still a girl—could be sent out to face unspeakable abominations on her own.
“I will stay here for a few days while we sort out what is going on,” I said while detaching the bag before handing it to her. “Please have this sent to my room and make sure no one touches it.”
“Right away, Sister Eleni,” Shauna said with great deference before hastening into the building.
I turned to look at Vivian, who was observing me with an unreadable expression.
“You have Galadias here, correct?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Please get one so that we can be on our way.”
She frowned. “We normally only ride them for great distances. Duskwallow Graveyard doesn’t qualify as such by our rules.”
“A pox on that,” I said with a dismissive gesture. “The graveyard is at least an hour away on horseback. It will take us no more than fifteen minutes with our flying mounts. It could be the difference between saving Sister Sienna or bringing back her corpse.”
“Right,” Vivian replied, looking dubious.
I couldn’t tell what expression my face displayed, but it made her embarrassed enough to give me a stiff nod and hurry towards the stables. I watched her walking away, disturbed by her apparent lack of concern for the welfare of her colleague or dismissiveness of the urgency of the situation. At the Vatican, whenever we heard about one of our brothers or sisters being in danger, we raced to each other’s rescue without hesitation.
What’s going on in this place?
Was she demoralized? Defeated by their grim situation? Or had she simply gone numb after so many losses back-to-back? Once this mystery was resolved, a serious restructuring would need to take place here if this Sanctum was to survive. And it would begin with some radical updates in training for the Prefect. Maybe even some stewardship over him for a little while to get him back on the right track. I wanted to believe that years of having a fairly easy ride here had made him too complacent instead of the recent failures being due to true incompetence or criminal negligence.
While waiting for her to return, I whipped out a number of pieces of vellum which I enchanted with protective and defensive spells. They weren’t as potent as a direct cast, but they proved quite effective when you needed to perform quick actions without draining your own power.
As soon as Vivian returned with her mount, I approached her and drew a rune on her shoulder while whispering an incantation.
She jerked her shoulder back and glared at me with outrage.
“What the fuck did you just do?” Vivian demanded.
I stared at her in genuine surprise. “It’s a protection sigil,” I replied in a self-evident manner.
