The Guild’s warriors and rangers were trained in warfare, sure. But they were dispatched to take care of things like goblin uprisings, bugbear rebellions, and the occasional rogue wyvern or demon infestation.
Not all-out war.
“Sweet, summer child.” The smirk in his voice made her clench her bound fists. “The physical classes within these walls are my denizens. This guild is whatever I want it to be.”
At some silent signal, the blank-faced warriors began to pull her toward the stairs. As they passed the statue, in a moment of desperation she lunged for it, hoping to shoulder the plinth and knock both the bust and the gem to the floor—as Gardos had seemed to fear when she’d threatened to do so earlier.
But Tiri was no warrior; her captors’ heavy gloves gripped like iron, and she was marched past the statue, her opportunity gone. She spat at it instead.
“How rude.” Gardos’s voice had now turned cold. “Since I am no longer feeling inclined to spare your feelings, I will inform you I have another contingency to prevent Mornier’s meddling. As a warrior of the sword pact, Collson Rutherford is one of my sworn denizens. Before he left my Sphere, I designated Lila Mornier as ‘hostile’. He will be compelled to destroy her on sight.”
The horror of it all—of Lila somehow surviving the terrible fate they’d abandoned her to, knowing she’d been left to die, and now Coll being forced against his will to kill her—was too much.
“Why Coll?” she whispered, hardly even aware of what she was saying. “You said your avatar—”
“Will exterminate Mornier if it encounters her first,” the Core confirmed. “But one cannot have too many contingencies.”
“You don’t need to kill them. Please. You don’t need to do any of this!”
She struggled against her captors as they dragged her up the stairs after Varnell, to be thrown in their cells for stacks knew how long. She had to warn Benin and Coll. But she was as powerless as the former Guildmaster.
She shouted more entreaties down into the study. But Gardos was silent, and the last she saw of the Librarinth was the demonic bust, teeth bared in its mocking smile.
Sixty-One
Lila
Benin
Unlike Benin, Lila Mornier did not flinch as the emberfox’s orange glow finally revealed her face. Along with the scars from kobold weapons were those from older battles, long healed before their expedition ever began. But what stood out most were the ones around her neck: a string of circular marks, puckered and burned-looking, like acid scars but in a pattern similar to the spiky suckers on a giant squid’s tentacles.
And her left sleeve hung loose. Empty, he realized.
The image of the creature wrapping itself around her flashed before him again, and he heard her screams following him as he fled.
“How are you still alive?” he whispered. “We saw you… we saw it…”
“You saw me paralyzed and about to be eaten alive by a tentacled abomination?” Her voice was coldly conversational, but her eyes were wide and bloodshot, her grin forced. “Funny story. When Varnell’s little friend Grimrock realized I was Guild, he called off his scaly dogs and let me go. But not before that monster made a meal out of me.” She gestured at her empty sleeve.
Benin swallowed, tasting bile. He couldn’t imagine the agony she must have suffered, paralyzed and half-eaten alive.
“You know Varnell sent us down there to die?” he said.
“Please. I’m not an idiot.”
“Then presumably his ‘little friend’ was meant to be the one who finished us off. Why would he release you?”
She gave a lopsided shrug. He noticed she kept glancing up at the summit behind them, as though waiting for something. Benin’s shock at her unexpected appearance gave way to suspicion.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
She frowned, looking suddenly confused. “I…” Then her face cleared, and her eyes focused on his once more. “I’m here for the Core. My master wants it.”
“What? You’re still working for Varnell, even after everything he’s done?”
“Varnell? No.” Her face lit up beatifically. “I serve the Lord of Light.”
Who?
If there was one thing he’d never had the ranger pegged as, it was a religious fanatic. Eyebrows raised, he glanced sideways at Coll, expecting to see him wearing a similarly incredulous expression.
But the warrior wasn’t looking at him. His attention was fixed entirely on the woman in front of them. In fact, he hadn’t moved since the moment he’d caught sight of her.
At first Benin thought he must still be in shock from the revelation that she had risen from the dead. Then he saw that Coll’s entire body was shaking.
“Coll?” He reached a tentative hand toward the man’s shoulder, but stopped just short of touching him when Pyra began to growl. The emberfox was backing away from Coll, her hackles raised like red-hot spines.
Lila frowned at the warrior. His fists were clenched so hard it was a wonder his knuckles hadn’t burst through the skin, and he was grinding his teeth in a way that made Benin wince.
“Coll?” he said again, warily this time. “You all r—”
The warrior exploded into violence. Like an overly taut bowstring finally snapping under the strain, he lunged at Lila, unslinging his hammer and bringing it down with the strength of both hands.
Her eyes widened. She ducked and flung herself to the side, narrowly avoiding the deadly blow, but Coll was already raising the weapon for another.
“What are you doing?! Coll! Stop!”
He continued to attack like a man possessed. His hammer was a blur, whistling as it swung through the air in a vicious chain of sweeping strikes. With each swing Benin flinched, expecting Lila’s head to explode. He should have known better.
Among the Guild’s physical fighter classes, rangers were renowned for their skills in archery and other ranged combat. It was in the name, after all. But above everything else, their true strength was in their incredible finesse. A well-trained ranger was as hard to hit as a greased dragonfly.
Every swing whistled
