Instead of allowing this wrath to send me spiraling out of control, however, I concentrated it, honing its focus, sharpening it to a razor edge, like an exquisite sword. I turned the white-hot heat of my anger to arctic ice. It was no less intense, but far easier to control. I swore on my father’s grave, and in the name of all the powers of Death, that I would make Elandriel suffer before he died by my hand. He would feel the same suffering he had inflicted on every innocent girl he had sacrificed, on every peasant his troops had callously slaughtered, on every citizen of Brakith he had starved. He would know incomprehensible agony before I finally yanked his soul from his body and used it to become King of all Gods.
“Time to start turning this evil tide,” I whispered to myself.
Beating my harpy wings, I flew up from the ground, seeking out Anna-Lucielle and the rest of my party members with my keen harpy eyes. I found her soon enough. She was looking forlornly out over the town from one of the tower windows in the castle. I landed Talon on the windowsill, and although I couldn’t speak through Talon’s mouth, I needed to communicate to Anna-Lucielle that the time to seek out the actor was now.
She stepped back from the window, surprised that Talon had landed there right in front of her. Behind her, in the large chamber, I saw that she had not unpacked her things yet. She and the others must have only flown into Brakith hours earlier. Nonetheless, there was no time to waste. She needed to find and “infect” the actor so that I could begin my counterattack against the Church Army and turn the tide of the siege.
She must have sensed that it was not simply Talon perched on the windowsill; she was a goddess, after all.
“Vance, it’s you, isn’t it?” she asked, staring at me—at Talon—with those sultry eyes of hers.
I gave her a nod with Talon’s ugly harpy head, and she smiled.
“It’s terrible, isn’t it?” she said, the smile quickly fading from her face. “The Church Army has devastated Brakith. I suppose you want me to find the actor as soon as possible?”
I gave her another nod, and her frown became an expression of determination.
“Of course, yes, there’s no time to waste,” she said. “Let’s go.”
She grabbed the Beauty Mirror and the enchanted bone fragment before setting off at a brisk pace through the huge castle. I flew down to the market square and waited for her there. I was quite sure I knew where to find the actor.
Soon enough, Anna-Lucielle had made her way out of the castle and was striding across the square toward me. If the arrival of hundreds of undead harpies in Brakith had alarmed the residents of the town, no one showed it. I had told Rollar to address the populace as soon as he arrived and explain that the harpies represented no threat to them and were here to fight the Church Army. I was sure he’d already done this, but I also suspected that the citizens were simply too starved and exhausted to care. I probably could have flown a dragon into the town and it wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows.
I loped across the square with Talon’s awkward gait—harpies could fly as gracefully as eagles, but on land they were clumsy things—and led Anna-Lucielle down a series of alleys, making our way into Brakith’s seedier areas. Since she was a native of the town, she soon got a good idea of where I was leading her.
“The Boar’s Nuts, right?” she asked.
I gave her a nod. The Boar’s Nuts was one of the roughest taverns in Brakith, hardly the sort of place the milksop actor would usually dare to set foot in. However, due to the siege, it was likely also one of the only places that would still be open and serving alcohol—the Boar’s Nuts would still be selling ale and beer even when enemy troops were rampaging through the streets, I guessed. If there was one place the limp-wristed little fool could drown his sorrows, it was the Boar’s Nuts.
I followed Anna-Lucielle to the seedy tavern, and sure enough, it was open, and packed to the gills. Being a ten-foot-tall harpy, I couldn’t exactly fit inside the low-ceilinged building, but I could observe through one of the windows. After Anna-Lucielle entered the tavern, I crept over an open window and peered in.
As I’d suspected, the actor was there, drinking wine in a corner by himself, looking both bored and slightly terrified of the shady figures and rogues who made up most of the patrons. Everyone’s heads turned and the rowdy place fell silent as soon as Anna-Lucielle stepped inside; the only women seen here were rough-necked rogues or back alley whores, and women of her class and beauty rarely—if ever—set foot in a hovel like this.
Anna-Lucielle ignored the many hungry and predatory eyes on her as she made a beeline for the actor. He knew who she was and realized right away that her seeking him out had something to do with me. He cringed on his barstool, and a look of panic came across his face. He hastily searched the tavern for exits, but there was no way he was getting out of here without getting past Anna-Lucielle.
She strode intrepidly up to him with the enchanted bone in her right hand. “It’s time to use your only asset for a good cause, you worthless little rat.”
“My, uh, masterful talent as a most notable thespian, m’lady?” he asked, cowering like a frightened child, even though he—being almost my size—towered over Anna-Lucielle.
“No, moron, your good looks
