The Court of Souls?

Chapter 9: ~Escape.~

An angel, especially according to Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, is a spiritual being superior to humans in power and intelligence. Angels are typically described as benevolent, dreadful, and endowed with wisdom and knowledge of earthly events, but not infallible; for they strive with each other, and God has to make peace between them. Most of them serve either as intermediaries between Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits. They are studied in the theological doctrine of angelology. In Christian Science, the word "angel" is used to refer to an inspiration from God.

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Clan: Inanimatum***

***Shade, 9 years old***

I follow my daily routine with a solemn expression on my face. Since the slavers sent us on the race they also used us for duties outside the facility. Today's task is cleaning the outer walls. There is nothing that's more infuriating. We gathered and stole as many supplies as possible since we lost Manticore and Aswang. But we have nowhere to go. One might say that anywhere is better than here, but anywhere else means death as far as we know.

What we are lacking is information and the slavers know that. They don't even bother to guard us because none of the free citizens would bother to talk to us. We have nowhere to go.

And on top of it all, our time is running out. From observing the other age groups I am very sure that they will put the expensive version of the slave collars on us when we turn ten. Those won't need our names. Once we have those around our necks we have lost our chance.

Frustrated by the hopeless situation I kick away a damaged bowl which was lying in my way. Once the dirt is off the street it isn't my business any longer. The bowl lands in one of the side-streets in front of an old man. He is sunken to one of the walls and looks like death itself. I recognize his face! It's the slave who saved me a year ago. I burned his face into my mind and it simply has to be him! He is even more haggard than when I first saw him, but that remarkable edgy nose and the slightly tilted eyes are hard to forget.

My head snaps back to the wall. If I am right, then the slaver shouldn't be back from his round for at least another five minutes. I drop the bucket with water and the towel, then I hurry to the slave. Old man, what are you doing here?

Who is an old man? And can't you see that I am busy with dying? asks the old man.

You? And why are you here? Didn't you have a job when we last met? I ask confused.

Child. We are all immortals in this world. Do you really think that my outer appearance counts in any way? My master worked me to death and then he threw me away and bought a new slave. Oh, forget it. You are one of the child soldiers, aren't you? Of course you know nothing. He coughs and spits blood on the ground.

Yes, please help me. I need information to flee from this place. I need to know where to go, I beg.

He opens one eye to look at me. The other is swollen shut. A funny one, eh? You will never make it through the wilderness.

I clench my teeth. All I want is the name of the clan which offers the greatest hope and a direction. I don't care about the possibility of dying. I just need a chance.

Go north-west to where the ice titan resides. He will know that you entered his territory as soon as you leave the swamp. Maybe you can persuade him to let you live? His opened eye wanders over me. And then again, maybe not.

What's that supposed to mean? I hiss. Is he joking with me?

You wanted to know where you have the biggest chance and I told you. Nothing more, nothing less. Does it matter that the chance is still a zero with a few decimal places afterwards before you get to see the first number? At least you will probably see him before he kills you. He likes to talk to the ones whom he kills. The other clans will be hard to find or not much better than this one, the old man mumbles.

I glance back at the wall. Old man, do you want to come with me? At least a part of the way?

He coughs again. Now you are the one who is joking. Do you want to carry me?

I shake my head. No. I am sorry, but you will die and your body has to stay here. All I can take with me is your soul.

His one good eye widens and he looks at me for a long time. A shade and a soul-mage, eh? They confused you with a low? The slavers made a grave mistake when they let you live.

I ready myself to finish him off in case he screams, but he does nothing of the sort. Fine. I am just a low, but I know a few things. I'll guide you a part of the way. At least until you need me. I am done with this world anyway.

Until I need you? I ask baffled.

Hurry. The overseer is coming! We can talk later.

The old man reaches for me and I take his hand, sending my mana into him. Strangely his soul separates easily and without trouble from his body. Apparently there is a difference if I take someone against his will. Or I am getting better. The old man's body slumps to the ground and is still. I hurry back to my bucket and try to look as inconspicuous as possible while I try to listen to the voices in my head.

The other two are still screaming out their guts, but the new one isn't doing so.

The first thing you should do is getting rid of the two idiots you have in here. Did you intend to put their cages above a fire-pit?

What is he talking about?

Oh, gods. I joined hands with soul-mage who has no idea of his powers. At least you do it instinctively right. Listen well to what I have to tell you...

I listen intently to the little knowledge my new lodger has about soul magic. Apparently I have two choices when I steal another soul. Either I can incorporate it into my own, or I can simply bind it to me.

The first case is bad. Very bad. Doing it that way will gain me all the soul's memories and a huge mana boost. It's possible to lose your identity inside the foreign memories and at the very least it will drive me crazy after a while. It also makes the soul unavailable for other purposes. Though upon death the souls should separate and be released.

The second way poses less risk. If they are simply bound to me I can talk to and interrogate them if necessary. It's like shutting them away within my mind. I can create any environment I want for them. It will grant me access to a part of their mana capacity and I'll be able to use them to perform a summoning or other sacrificial spells. If I put a stolen soul into an object and infuse mana into it I can create a summoning with all the soul's abilities until it uses up my mana and releases the soul.

Either way, if I die the souls get freed.

What's much more interesting though is the information about the various clans and their locations. I decide to trust the old man's words. He seems to have a good heart and already saved me once. In addition his survival is currently tied to mine. I can't see why he would want to betray me.

If the old man is right, then the ice titan is my only chance. Going to Parle is as bad as Inanimatum. Carissimi is somewhere in a desert and on top their home is mobile. No chance to find them.

Draconis is too far away and even if I reach their lands I still have to find their floating city. If the dragons don't eat me.

Further south are a few clans which get frequently raided by Inanimatum, but there is a deadly mountain-range between us. Did I already mention that they frequently get raided?

On top I would need a higher immortal to open a portal or fly me over.

Imothep is also out of the question for the same reason. No chance to cross the acidic sea.

That means the only direction that's open to me is the ice titan. An old hermit whom everyone is afraid of... great! Why not? Let's throw ourselves in front of him and kiss his feet. Maybe he won't squash us.

I finish my round around the facility by the evening and return to the barracks where Legna is already waiting for me. When I enter the room I find her updating our list of supplies.

With a grim expression on my face I sit down next to her. This night.

She looks up. How sure?

It won't get any better. We have to go anyway, I answer.

Which plan?

I look down at her list and bite my lower lip. We take the river.

We continue the rest of the day as if nothing unusual happened. I even go out of my way and avoid coming across the last two assholes. Lardass and his remaining team-member turned into outcasts since they lost their position of power. I think they hoped to regain some respect by killing Manti and Aswang. But it backfired and broke their last bit of control over the other slaves.

It's late in the night when I open my eyes and get up. Legna follows suit and in moments we have our survival gear out of our hiding place under an old plank on the floor. We call it survival gear, but it's nothing more than two sacks with blankets and food. And knives, pots which we stole from the kitchen and two weatherproof coats which belonged to the overseers.

I shoulder my improvised backpack and grab two mats of straw. Then I hurry out of the room, trying to stay as silent as possible. My goal is the room of the assholes. Legna and I decided long ago that the least we can do is to leave them a farewell present.

We pile the mats in front of their room and go for a second round, getting stools and a table. With that we can get a good fire going. With the starting point of the fire directly in front of their room and no windows in this wooden construction, they are practically dead.

I leave the honour of igniting our little bonfire to Legna.

The dry straw bursts into flames and we dash for the exit. Once outside we don't wast time and head for the river which is flowing through the city and our facility. But halfway to the riverbed I sense one member of the nightwatch coming too close. I drop to the ground.

Legna throws herself next to me. What's wrong?

Nightwatch, three o'clock, coming closer. He will see us if we jump into the river!, I whisper.

We have to give him a distraction! Legna crawls forward but I stop her.

Then I close my eyes and concentrate on summoning up two of my souls, forcing them into my shadows. It's a bet, pure instinct.

You have to infuse your mana!

I thank the old man in my thoughts and add a portion of my mana, feeling myself becoming weaker. Then two dark figures rise from the ground. They are clad in shadows and have diffuse contours, but in the darkness they are hard to see anyway.

One is a grown man and the other a child. I point at the child. You, run to the barracks and scream. Then the big shadow. You, follow him and call for an alarm to distract the nightwatch. Keep them busy!

The little shadow starts running towards our barracks where I can already see fire licking out of the entrance. He screams and is promptly followed by the big shadow. Alarm! We have an escapee! Fire!

The nightwatch diverts from his route and follows my two distractions who are running back to our barrack and disappearing inside it.

I grab Legna's hand and pull her up. Without a word we run for the river and jump inside. The water is cold and the currents are strong, but each of us brought a big piece of cork. The kitchen staff uses them to light the fireplace. They not only burn very well, but are also perfect floating tyres to hold us and our gear above water.

My hands and legs reach around Legna while the river takes us towards the strong iron bars which secure the access to the facility via the river.

I concentrate and, a moment before reaching the bars, I take both of us into the shadows. We float through the bar. It's just one teribble moment and in the next we are behind them where I can return us back to normal. I shudder and take a deep breath, clinging with all my might to my gear. That was exhausting. Especially taking Legna and all the stuff with me after summoning those two shadows.

We drift in the river until we reach the outskirts of the city where a fifty meter waterfall leads into the swamp. This time it is Legna's turn to hug me. The water takes us over the edge and she uses her special trait. Wings of light spread out from her shoulders and we glide down into the swamp. Screams come from behind us and an alarm is raised by the town's guards.

It's within our calculation. All our hopes rely on the fact that no mid or higher immortal would waste his time in chasing us down. So getting ahead of them and hiding in the swamp is our only hope.

Dead trees and dark ponds stretch out under us and I scream directions to Legna who can't see a thing.

Legna lands us hard in a relatively dry part of the swamp and immediately retracts her wings. The ghostly projections of light look like real angel wings and are like a beacon to everyone who looks for us.

I still don't get why, but for some strange reason there is a day-night cycle in this world. Without stars and a moon the nights are pitch black. Again I reach for Legna's hand and place her bag back in her hands. She lost it when we landed. Then I lead her into the swamp while the city behind us turns alive with screams and alarms.

I see flames licking high into the sky. Apparently we did pretty good with our little fire. Only then it strikes me that open fires are probably the biggest danger to medieval cities.

We stumble through the underwood and about ten minutes after our escape we notice lights following us. Legna stops with shivering legs. That's it! We lost. They are following us.

I turn back to her and try to calm her down. She was always more on the emotional side. What are you talking about? We will hide until they give up. Don't lose your spirit.

I- I can't do this! It's dark and I can't see a thing. We will never be able to outrun them. They have light and I am tired. Can't you hear the animals all around us? She starts shivering.

I stop to listen to the noise all around us. She is right. And she is wrong, we can't go back! I can see. I'll lead you until dawn. Just keep going. I grab her hand and pull her into a close-by pond. When they come we dive. We already talked through this.

I hold her close to me, but she is too afraid. What if there is something inside the water? If the stories are true there are all kinds of deadly plants and animals out here.

Calm down. We talked about it and agreed that we take the risk. It is better than being a slave! I whisper and pull her deeper.

The searching lights come closer and we kneel down. One of the guards appears at the shore and sends his magelight higher to illuminate a bigger area.

Something brushes against my ankle and apparently also touches Legna. She draws her breath to scream and I reach up to cover her mouth, muffling her voice. The guard turns towards us.

I have no choice. I pull her under water and lock her hands in mine. Please calm down. Calm the fuck down! I try to let her up, but she keeps struggling. If I let her up now, she will scream.

Faced with a grim choice I send my mana into her and yank at her soul. It's surprisingly easy. Her body stops struggling and I pull her back to the surface.

My mind shorts out upon pulling her non-resisting body with me while the shore with the guard slowly disappears in the distance. I make three strokes, then I try to push air into her lungs by mouth-to-mouth breathing. Three strokes, a breath, three strokes, a breath. It continues until we reach the other side of the pond where I pull her to dry land.

What did you do!?

Her voice echoes in my head while I try to restart her heart. I am trying to save you! I push my last mana reserves into her, together with her soul. But it doesn't hold and the soul slips back into me. I try again and it doesn't work.

Don't try. The body is already dead. Even if you succeed you will just turn her into a zombie.

The old man's voice makes me want to scream. That can't be! I didn't! Legna has to live!

You killed me!

You panicked! You would have killed us both! Damn fish or whatever it was that touched us and you wanted to scream. I almost call out, but restrain myself just in time. I wipe away the tears. She doesn't answer for a long time while I stare at her body.

Just let me go.

.