He grunted and tried to get up, but I elbow-dropped onto his face. My elbow crunched into his nose, crushing it into his face, and he screamed out as I leapt back onto my feet. I dropped onto my knees and caught his huge right arm in both of mine. He writhed within my grip, but with a quick twist of my body, I broke his arm. He howled, and I stepped calmly over to his left arm and dislocated it at the shoulder.
The sounds of battle had died down. My companions were standing among the corpses of the guards and the Crusaders we’d killed before them. I’d been so focused on Nabu that I hadn’t noticed the souls of our enemies enter my dagger. Now, Elyse and Rami held determined expressions, all compassion gone from their eyes. They’d obviously been watching as I performed Nabu’s slow death. My dagger would get its chance, but this man had been a slaver and a torturer, so I figured a little retribution was in order. And there was no harm in enjoying the process.
Rami knelt beside Nabu, who watched her with a mocking glare. She pulled out a small push dagger and slipped it over her middle finger.
“Where’s Xayon’s amulet?” she demanded.
“As if I’d tell you, you foreign slut.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Rami slipped the blade inside the right corner of Nabu’s mouth, then ripped a savage cut, slicing his cheek open from the corner of his mouth halfway up to his ear.
Nabu howled, his eyes bulging and bloody spittle flying from his mouth.
“I’ll finish that ‘smile’ on the other side if you don’t tell me what I want to know,” Rami hissed.
“Here… take it!” He tried to move his left hand but couldn’t because of his dislocated shoulder.
Rami looked down and saw the bracelet on his wrist. I realized now that this was the amulet she’d been searching for. It was likely a necklace on anyone other than Nabu. She yanked it off, causing him to yelp with pain, but the instant she held it, her face fell.
“It’s… it’s…” she murmured, staring at the amulet in disbelief.
“Nothing but a trinket now,” Nabu rasped. “There’s no power left in that piece of metal. It’s nothing… nothing but a souvenir.”
“Where’s Xayon? I know she survived the purge! Why’s this amulet powerless?”
A weak cackle dribbled out of Nabu’s mouth. “Why do you think I keep that as a souvenir, you stupid whore? I killed Xayon! I killed the Wind Goddess with my own hands!”
“Where’s her body?” Rami stuck her push dagger into the left corner of the bishop’s mouth. “What have you done with her body? Answer me now!”
“Maybe it’s in the catacombs, maybe it isn’t,” Nabu said. “But even if you do find it, it doesn’t matter. Xayon is dead, and nothing will bring her back.”
Rami stared at Nabu for a few moments with hatred in her eyes. Then she slashed a smile-cut through his cheek, stood up, and walked away, leaving Nabu howling and writhing on the floor. I could see that Rami was devastated by this revelation, but there wasn’t much I could say or do at the moment. I turned to Elyse and nodded in Nabu’s direction. Gripping her mace tightly, she stepped over to him, bristling with hatred and fury.
“You greedy, lying, thieving, murdering, slave-selling scum,” she said. “I’ve waited for this moment for a long, long time. Do you have a final confession?”
“Burn in hell, slut,” Nabu strained to say, his face a mess of blood, wounds, and purple swelling. “You won’t get an apology from me, no matter what you do.”
“Then there’s no reason to allow you to defile the title of bishop any longer.” She raised her mace high above her head and gritted her teeth as she prepared to deal him a killing blow. But I gripped her arm at the last second.
“No,” I said. “His soul is mine. That was the deal.”
With her free hand, Elyse removed Isu’s coin from her warded purse, then closed her fingers around it.
“There,” she said. “Now, you get his soul, and I get my vengeance.”
That was good enough for me. I released her arm and stepped back to allow her to get on with her dirty work.
“I will become a demigod!” Nabu spat blood. “You cannot—”
Elyse brought her mace down with all the force she could muster. It smashed the lower half of his face in, cutting him off before he could finish speaking. Nabu’s gaze rolled down, trying in vain to stare at the mess of bloody pulp and splintered bone where his nose, mouth, and jaw used to be.
Then, with a scream, Elyse smashed the mace into his head once more, this time caving in what remained of his face. Again and again, she slammed the weapon into his skull, pounding it into a mess of blood, pulverized meat, and shattered bone.
Finally, I felt a powerful jolt as Grave Oath sucked Nabu’s soul in. Immediately, a shrill cackling resounded through the entirety of the cathedral, like 10,000 phantoms all laughing at once.
“What the hell was that?” Rami looked around nervously.
A chill ran down my spine, and goosebumps prickled my flesh; Isu was nearby, and she was clearly very pleased about taking possession of Nabu’s soul. She did not show herself, but I felt an almost magnetic pull leading me in the direction of the stairs to the crypt.
I would have followed her call, but Rami drew my attention. She plopped herself down in a nearby chair that had escaped the carnage, folded her arms across her chest, and frowned. Her jaw was set.
Elyse motioned for me to go to her.
I walked over
