“’Tis no worse than the fate awaiting me if I fail in my hunt.” Desperate now, the thing begged, “Please, please, please, let me go.” Scaly arms covered a distorted face. It crooned, rocking back and forth.
“That I cannot do,” replied the priest, “for once your kind kills, they’ll kill again, depriving my lord of his blessed children.” The brown-clad figure stepped back, securing his dagger inside his boot. “Martin? I believe this will make your ninth kill. Do not taunt, do not maim, take no pleasure in work which needs doing.” He recited the words, smoothly shifting to a language Martin shouldn’t be able to understand.
“Ho… How do you know my name?”
“Later. Right now, complete the task you’ve taken on.” Gloved hands folded together in a prayerful pose, Martin’s unexpected companion resumed his strange, lilting chant.
The creature inclined its head. A single purple tear slid down its nose. “Be about it then,” it said.
Martin placed his lantern on the ground and raised his sword in a two-handed grip. “May whatever you believe in have pity on your soul if you possess one.”
The thing sniffed the air, eyes widening. “You! It’s you!” It gave an evil smile. “No, let mercy be on you.Hewantsyou.”
Too late to stop his momentum, Martin brought the sharp-edged steel down with all his might. A single whimper, a plop, and the thing’s head rolled into a puddle. Martin stepped back, wiping his blade on the corpse’s scaled hide.
Staring down at the thing, he felt a moment of grief for taking a life. But by his actions, how many had he saved?
The priest murmured low, repeating earlier words, “There is no joy in this work that needs doing. Not for an honorable man.” He whistled into the sudden silence. Answering whistles replied.
“Who is with you?” Martin asked.
“More priests, hunters like yourself. Did you believe yourself the only one taking on this task?”
Martin shook his head. “I’ve never seen any of you before.” But maybe he had. A flash of brown here or there.
“We didn’t want to be seen, but we have hunted with you many times. Ever wonder what happened to the beings that got away?”
“Yes.”
The priest quietly murmured, “They didn’t get away.”
“Yet you show yourself tonight.”
“It was time to show myself.” Did the priest have to be so matter-of-fact, yet make Martin pull explanations from him? The priest chanted words Martin didn’t know.
What had the thing meant?He wants you.Who wanted him? The Father? Martin didn’t hold to any religion. Religion turned its back on him ages ago by marking him an outcast and cursing him with powers he knew little about.
The robed figure’s utterances grew louder. Finally, he raised his hands, sprinkling fire onto the corpse. White-hot flames licked at scale and claw, rendering the beast to ashes in the blink of an eye.
Martin jumped back. “Who…” Flames from his fingers? “Who are you?”
Like all those summers ago. Except the priest seemed to have called the flames, controlled them.
Martin stood beside the mysterious figure, who chanted serenely until the last flame withered and died, leaving only an oily residue and the memory of a murderous horror.
“What was it exactly? I’ve never heard them beg for their lives before.” Martin kept his voice low. Breaking the eerie silence seemed wrong somehow. Bold killers who had no remorse didn’t bother him nearly as much as the one tonight.
The priest remained quiet a moment, weighing his words, no doubt. “Something that no one should be able to see. No one but the mage-born.”
Martin pointed toward a spot of goo with his blade and shuddered. “And what did you just do?” So many questions rattled around his brain. Was this really happening?
With a few more muttered words in a strange tongue, the priest waved his hands. Martin focused on the cadence and inflection of each word, if not their meaning. The air glistened, glowing runes forming and drifting away. Before the last gleaming strands faded, the priest pivoted on his heel and strode from the alley. Martin followed.
Magic. This man performed magic, knew Martin’s name, and made the corpse disappear.
Neat trick. Martin usually tossed the bodies into the harbor and hoped sea creatures destroyed the evidence. If they could see them.
“Wait! Why won’t you answer my questions?”
