I lay on the floor… covered in blood… the pain in my shoulder was excruciating... but I was alive. Kiyui rushed over to me.

  Kiyui: “Are you alright?”

  Dwynfel: “I think my shoulder’s fucked.”

  Knight 3: “It’s just dislocated. I can fix that.”

  Villager: “Is it dead?”

  Knight 3: “I bloody well hope so.”

  He walked over to the lamia’s body and kicked it a few times.

  Knight 3: “Seems pretty dead.”

  The crowd of villagers cheered. In that moment I felt a weight on my chest. I looked up to see Verity sitting on me and rocking back and forth.

  Cathy: “Verity, get off him. He’s hurt!”

  Cathy emerged from the crowd and lifted Verity off my chest.

  Cathy: “Sorry, I let her run to you because she seemed happy to see you. I thought she was over the sitting on people thing.”

  Dwynfel: “Its fine… I’m just glad you two made it to a safe zone.”

  The crowd then turned quite angry as their eyes fell upon the two cultists who remained alive. They charged at them and pinned them to the ground. A couple of men started kicking them until the hammer guy stopped them.

  Knight 3: “Stop!”

  Angry Man 1: “They killed my wife!”

  Angry Man 2: “They caused all of this!”

  Knight 3: “I know, and they can pay for their crimes later. Right now, they are the only ones who can potentially stop the rest of these insane fucks.”

  Angry Man 1: “What?”

  Knight 3: “They were tricked, don’t you understand? The demon deceived them. They saw what she truly is. If they can tell the others, then maybe they’ll dial it the fuck down and make fighting this shit back a bit easier.”

  The crowd still looked angry… but they did step back and stopped kicking the shit out of the cultists. The cultist who had been vomiting earlier sat up… his lip was busted and he spat one of his teeth onto the ground. The other guy just lay on the floor… weeping to himself. Seeing the priestess that he had devoted his life to turn into… well… that… and eat somebody right in front of him… safe to say it hasn’t been the best experience of his life.

  The hammer guy knelt down in front of the one who was not catatonic.

  Knight 3: “Your friends are out front, fighting tooth and nail with the paladins of this temple. Your friends may take a few of the paladins with them, but they will lose eventually. After what you have seen, you know that your cause is a lie. I suggest you go outside and convince your allies to lay down their arms before any more of them die.”

  The cultist didn’t speak… he simply nodded. Tears fell from his eyes as he stood up and walked slowly towards to temple entrance. The angry men followed him… clearly prepared to attack him if he tried anything.

  Kiyui: “Think that’ll work?”

  Knight 3: “I bloody well hope so. We need to end this as quickly as possible. And it will be much quicker if the fighting stops and we can just leave through the front door.”

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  As I attempted to stand up, a crowd gathered around me. Verity wrapped her arms around me… then started attempting to climb on me…which caused my shoulder no end of pain.

  Cathy: “Verity, stop that!”

  Various villagers thanked me for aiding them. The hammer guy gave a couple of villagers some coin and asked them to look after Chenowith’s body so that it could be buried properly after everything calmed down. He then returned to me.

  Knight 3: “If you’re going to wield this sword then we need to fix your shoulder.”

  Dwynfel: “Do you know how?”

  Knight 3: “I have done it a couple of times before.”

  Dwynfel: “It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?”

  Knight 3: “Like hell.”

  Dwynfel: “Just do it.”

  Knight 3: “You need to lie down flat and place your arm straight out to the side.”

  I did as he instructed. He sat on the ground next to me. Placed his foot against my torso and grabbed my hand. He started to slowly pull my hand away from my body. Fucking hell… the pain… it brought a tear to me eye… several in fact… fuck… I wish I had something to bite down on… fucking hell.

  Suddenly there was a kind of… clunk sound… and the pain reduced massively. He let go of my hand and helped me to stand up.

  Dwynfel: “Oh… wow… I wasn’t expecting that to work so well.”

  Knight 3: “Don’t get too excited. It will be unstable for a while. It could easily pop out again if you are not careful. I would normally recommend putting it in a sling and immobilising it for a while. But I have this strange feeling that you are going to need it.”

  Kiyui went to hug me, but stopped himself.

  Kiyui: “You know that you are covered in blood, right?”

  Dwynfel: “Yeah… sliding through that blood pool was not the greatest way to stay clean. Doesn’t seem to bother Verity though.”

  Verity was once again trying to climb on me. Kiyui jokingly gave me a pat on the head and smiled at me. I couldn’t help but laugh. Honestly… this whole situation is so fucked up.

  I looked to Cathy, who was once again trying to remove Verity from me.

  Dwynfel: “If you two are here… then were is Damecus?”

  Cathy: “He sent us here the second the alarm sounded. He stayed in the gardens. He wanted to help evacuate any stragglers.”

  Dwynfel: “Sounds like him.”

  The hammer guy handed me my short sword. This feels weird. This is what we’ve been searching this entire damn city for… people have died for this moment… and now it’s here… and I just feel… scared.

  Knight 3: “So, you can stop this whole thing now… right?”

  Dwynfel: “That’s the idea. I think if we can kill this… Laezel… then the hordes should dissipate.”

  Kiyui: “And where is she?”

  Dwynfel: “North of the city.”

  Kiyui: “It’ll take forever to get there. The main streets are insane right now.”

  He's not wrong about that. And we certainly won’t be moving as quickly without Chenowith to help with the fighting.

  Knight 3: “Then we cut through the gardens, V’Rel manor, and the Vox estate. Given the situation… I do not think anybody is going to prosecute us for trespassing.”

  Dwynfel: “Makes sense… it’s the most direct route… as long as you don’t mind climbing a few walls.”

  Cathy: “There is a dip in the western side of the northern wall in the courtyard outside. Verity has escaped into here a couple of time. I keep telling them that they need to raise it, but they don’t listen. It should be easy for you three to climb over.”

  Knight 3: “Excellent, it is decided then. Onwards.”

  He raised his hammer and led the way to the front door. I have this horrible feeling that this is far from over.