Eldritch Exorcist 161. Last trip

Once the routes were decided, we gave the people ten more minutes to catch their breath before Leo announced we would be moving. But instead of getting up, the rest stayed seated. Then a few of the fighters got up, with a tall man in front, one of the few people in full armor aside from paladins, but one who hadn’t gone out with us. They approached Leo, and sensing trouble, the rest of the council mbers also got up to join the conversation.

“My na is Rayan, and this is Liana,” the man introduced himself, gesturing to a frail-looking priestess standing next to him. “We represent those who chose to stay behind.”

Leo nodded at the man in greeting.

“I’m here to inform you that we will not be going with you. The people have decided to stay here for the ti being.”

“Do you understand that if we find the key, you might be left behind if we deem a return too difficult?” Leo asked.

“You have an obligation to co back,” the priestess snapped.

“What obligation?” Daniel Riswalt retorted sharply. “We will be crawling through that city in almost complete darkness while you huddle here in warmth, and you want us to co back?”

“Okay,” the man said, nodding his head in short, jerking motions. “We’ll go with you, as long as we receive the protective cloaks.”

“If we’re going to fight, we need to be at our best,” Jacob spoke from behind Leo. “You can’t expect us to go out to get the key for you and freeze to death on our way.”

“So you expect us to freeze to death instead?” the priestess shot back.

“We expect you to find shelter from the elents in the next safe spot,” Leo said in a calm, even tone.

“And is the next safe spot a sure thing? What if it isn’t safe?”

“Then you will have to stay in the alleys around it. You could have volunteered to go.”

The man gave us a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, then looked at Lenart, representing the unaffiliated nobles. “Oh, we thought we had a representative, but it seems so people don’t have the backbone.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t volunteer,” D’Arc cut in. “You pushed this burden onto another and are now unhappy with the way he carries it.”

“Then tell us the whole situation,” the priestess interjected, her voice loud enough to turn everyone in our direction. “You withhold information. You lead us like cattle, herded from one pasture to another. You have fresh food—” she jabbed a finger toward , “—but you refuse to share it with the rest.”

I frowned. Was this a maneuver by the creature to get information? We were approaching a crucial point. So was my list wrong?

“You know the food works like potions. We need it to keep ourselves battle-ready. We can’t share it.” Leo took the floor. “The decision on where to go next has already been made and won’t change. We can’t leave you here. If we find the key, it’s crucial that we leave as soon as possible, because the city is becoming more dangerous. We can’t go back and forth to get you. So please tell your people to get ready to move out.”

“Give us the cloaks, then,” the man said.

Silence descended over the room, and the two sides looked at one another.

The priestess smiled at the lack of response. “Then we won’t be moving. Unless you want to make us,” she said, and turned around, letting her question hang in the air.

The man gave us all a passing look and went after her. The group of people who didn’t get the cloaks was now sitting in one big cluster, talking among themselves.

I looked in their direction, not sure what to do. The creature needed the crosier, but I wasn’t sure how it would try to get it. Would staying behind be advantageous to it? Was it a last-minute play to get into the council? Or was this simple fear of going out? I couldn’t tell. While the rest of us were busy putting our own plan into motion, it seed the other group was also having discussions of their own.

“Should we try to negotiate?” D’Arc proposed, her stern eyes locked on the other group.

“We don’t have ti,” Daniel spoke with a frown. “Cloaks go to the fighters, not parasites.”

“You speak like you were the one who fought for them,” William said in a tired voice. “We should go as we are,” he added before this could devolve into an argunt. “We don’t have ti.”

I nodded at his words. We got ready, separated into the groups, and moved. Of those not in the initial expeditions, only the four other people who got cloaks moved with us, the Oracle and Garash among them. The bald cat was now with the church group, while Remi and her handler went after the religious group. One of their mbers shared their cloak with the older woman carrying the cat.

“So there is no confusion. If it is deed impossible to retrieve you, we will evacuate through the closest gate. You will be left behind,” Jean D’Arc shouted once we were close to the ladder.

“What’s the difference? Dying here or freezing to death?” the frail-looking priestess replied.

Jean just shrugged and continued on with the rest of us.

The air was freezing by now, and I could sense the runes drawing in more of the magic. Interestingly, even though I didn’t see any special attunent in the runic weave of the clothing, the mana here seed eager to power the enchantnt.

We took the route to the safe spot and began moving. Like any other ti we needed to cross the silent city, the walk was slow and spent entirely in a tense atmosphere. Any sound of movent was cause for stopping and preparing for battle. Over the next two hours, which took us halfway there, such situations happened four tis.

Once, there was banging coming from inside a house. To my surprise, I noticed a patrol similar to the one we had seen before, led by a man with an eye-column and his entourage bearing half-severed heads. The things were hiding in a house and started pounding on the windows and doors as we passed by.

Another case was a woman who opened a window and started screaming at us, asking about the cold. She shouted repeatedly, telling us she had a child and was scared, demanding that we tell her what was going on. We picked up the pace, getting out of her voice’s reach. This happened again, but we now knew to run for it before the windows even started opening.

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We also t so aberrations on the street, but only once. They looked like normal beggars, dressed in tattered clothing, and scurried away into the sewers the mont our group approached.

The last case was the most severe one. We were around an hour away from the safe spot when the old Oracle suddenly stopped, only to tell us she had a sense of déjà vu. We all bolted out of there imdiately. Around half a minute later, horrible pressure washed over our backs, like a beast was watching us from the very spot where we had stood previously.

It was half an hour before the spot, when everyone was tired and distracted enough for to make the first move. I nodded at Luna, and she began her work. I could see her move slightly to the back and concentrate as small droplets of blood appeared on her skin. She could alter most of the properties of her blood, but I’d imagine changing the sll was a first for her. She spent a few seconds in a state of deep focus before opening her eyes and approaching .

“Too acidic,” I whispered.

The scene repeated a couple more tis until Luna finally got a nod of approval from . The Church group was nearby thanks to our new arrangent, and as we stopped at one of the crossroads, Luna got closer to Nathan. I watched closely for his reaction. The sll was delicate and barely perceptible, but…

I saw him flinch the mont the scent reached his nose. His face scrunched up involuntarily before he got control of it and looked around with a frown. Luna moved back as the blood disappeared into her skin, taking a light scent of burning flesh and sulfur with it.

I crossed one of the suspects off my list.

We finally made it to the safe spot. It was an apartnt building that had burned down. The fire must have happened quite so ti before the incident, as the beginning of renovations could be seen in parts of the construction that were still usable. The place looked boring, our eyes naturally slipping off the walls as if unwilling to stay on them.

“That’s it,” Leo whispered.

We approached it and entered, feeling so of the pressure lift off our shoulders as many collapsed in the corners. We took an hour to rest before we headed in three directions as planned. The Oracle and Garash decided to follow our group, since the burned-out building offered little protection from the elents anyway. The remaining two people joined the group going for the gate.

Nathan was cleared, and neither Aron nor Lenart tried to do anything about their destination being the gate, so all the remaining suspects were now in my group. Jacob would be the hardest to check, so the two Riswalts were first on the list.

Leo instructed the two paladins to join the other group as discussed. And after we had rested, we began moving toward the church. I made sure to pass on the ssage to Clentus, telling him to prepare when I gave the signal.

We had three hours to travel. The streets were covered in shadows, and the light from the pillar was blocked by tall buildings. The atmosphere made the next part really easy.

I watched on with a bit of amusent as Daniel Riswalt flinched at a small noise. The reaction surprised even slightly, but his timing was natural. eting soone who’s so much of a coward for it to beco part of their nature was a rare thing. At the gate, I thought Daniel might have made a mistake knocking that panicking man out. But if it wasn’t him, then soone could have used his cowardice, suggested incoming danger, and watched him attack. Soone who could get close to him.

My eyes turned to Albert.

William walked next to , using a light spell to disperse the shades in front of us, and as I approached, he lowered the light slightly. I placed the carved piece of wood I got from Darius in it, making sure the shadow fell just right. And…

I got no reaction.

I smiled slightly, but I needed to be sure. Over the next hour, we repeated the process three more tis, making sure Albert didn’t notice what was happening. Finally, taking the opportunity, I sent Ophelia to slowly move to the front and leave the carved piece to the side, placing it on a trash can behind a corner we would pass. I glued my eyes to the man, but once again got no reaction.

That had to be it.

I nodded at Helga, and the church slowly but surely got into place. Now Clentus was slightly forward with his people. The Jester moved closer to him as well, leaving so space next to Leo. My group slowly stretched backward, making sure that the mortal pope and his paladin were in the middle with the Riswalts.

Jacob turned out to be well-trained, and I saw him look back at us with a frown, as he must have noticed sothing was wrong.

This ant it was ti.

“Stop,” I said once we got into a calr-looking alley.

We were around half an hour from the spot by the church. Leo and his paladin were in the middle with the two Riswalts, while Clentus and the Jester were to the front, with Helga and Nathan.

“I think we need to deal with one more thing before we reach the church,” I said firmly, and then pointed at Albert. “I say we kill the skinwalker first.”

“What?” Albert said, wide-eyed, looking around at the people standing close to him.

Jacob got between him and Leo and tried to push back, but seeing that we were half-encircling them, he stopped halfway through, not trusting either side.

Leo looked to Clentus, trying to read anything from him, but all he t with were dull, frightened eyes of a man who hid behind Helga. The exhaustion and confusion were so clear on his face that I would have wondered if the eting in the basent really happened, if not for the slight nod he gave in my direction.

“I—I’m not,” Albert protested.

Daniel, standing next to him, looked confused before finally picking a side.

“You have no proof,” he said, supporting his clansman, but doing so from a slight distance, taking a few steps to the side.

“He’s right,” Leo said. “You divided my force, and now you claim one of my supporters is a skinwalker.” His accusation shifted to .

I smiled at his words. “Oh, but I do have proof,” I said, my eyes eting Albert’s frightened stare.

We were standing in an alley, with the front exit behind Clentus’s party and the rear behind my group and . Ophelia and the rest behind had their weapons drawn. I considered attacking, but Jacob and the Riswalts might try sothing. It would have been better to convince them first.

“It was a simple process of elimination.” I began explaining, my eyes locked onto Albert. “So of us were eliminated by sending them where you wouldn’t want to go, considering your target is in the second circle.” I watched carefully for a change, but he only looked afraid. “As for the confirmation—it turned out you and I have the sa problem when trying to blend in—mimicking fear.”

Throughout my speech, the creature didn’t let anything show. Its face was the sa mask of confusion, throwing begging looks at the rest of us.

“You can’t read the soul itself. You read the victim’s mories by mimicking the brain’s structure and invoking the feelings associated with events that shape a person’s life, pressing a scar on their body and reading the mory that surfaces, all while the original soul slowly leaves. But you have one issue—subconscious actions, like traumas and phobias deep enough to lodge in the soul. Even if you read the mory that created them, you can’t restructure your soul to mimic them, so you lack those little tells.”

For the first ti, I thought I could see a slight twitch in the mimicry.

“A person with arachnophobia will flinch when they catch a spider-shaped hairpin in the corner of their vision. Soone afraid of dogs will flinch at anything that sounds like barking. For them, it’s subconscious, but for you and , it’s conscious. The difference is barely noticeable, but soone who spent a few years trying to hide it can spot it.”

As I spoke, I produced a few wooden pieces. Together, they made a rough shape of a rat, but on their own, they looked like trash.

“You have better senses than the person you’re wearing, so the trick was simple. It turned out you were bullied by other Riswalts when you were young. And one night, so of the little fuckers threw rats into your bed. Hungry rats. And since then, you’ve been afraid of them almost as much as you hated your family. A rat-like shape, a rat-like shadow, anything should get a reaction. But you don’t have human senses, do you? The fear you mimic is a conscious decision. So when your senses didn’t pick up any living organism or aberration, you didn’t react. Why react to a few pieces of wood, after all?”

I let the silence stretch.

“You see, that was what gave you away. You forgot to flinch.”