Chapter 16: In For a fight

The Vulgar Lake was very busy. It could have been a coincidence, but Fen assumed that the brewing storm had people on edge.

Fen caught Harl’s attention on the way in and gestured that he needed to talk before walking into the back room. A few minutes passed before the bartender came back to talk with Fen.

“I need the ring.” Fen said, no preamble.

“No.” Harl said. “We have an agreement. The ring is mine.”

Fen met Harl’s eyes, doing his best to project the concern and panic he felt about the coming storm. “I really need it.”

Harl sighed, idly twisting the fat gold ring on his thumb. “Fen, I can’t just give you the ring, we agreed to this years ago.”

“This time is different.” Fen said.

“Is it the same different one from earlier?” Harl asked.

“You already know it is.” Fen said. “You can see what’s going on in the city.”

Harl rubbed his brow. “I don’t know about this.”

“I’ll give it back as soon as Unger is safe, or I’ll die trying.” Fen promised.

Harl sighed again, and it looked like he might say no, so Fen hurriedly kept talking. “I’m in for one heck of a fight, these guys have magic, and they’re trying to summon their storm god for who knows what purpose. The King was trying to get them to destroy Kheltirm, but they’re going to do their ritual here instead.”

“Why do you have to get involved?” Harl asked. “Why do you always have to get involved?”

“I can show you my new sword in the cellar if you want to see why I’m forced to be involved, but I have a feeling you already know what it is.” Fen said. “They’re coming for me whether I want to be involved or not, and I could use every advantage I can get my hands on.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t know.” Fen muttered, ashamed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but here I am, in the thick of it again.”

Harl sighed yet again, and Fen worried he would hurt himself if he kept up the dramatics. “Fine.” Harl wrenched the ring off his thumb and handed it forcefully to Fen.

“Thank you.” Fen said. “I’ll bring it right back.”

He shoved the ring onto his own thumb. It was a little loose, but when he gave it a twist it immediately tightened to fit his finger. Disconcertingly, Fen grew a tingle of awareness of every person in the immediate vicinity. With a little effort, he could see into their minds, able to glean the thoughts on the surface as though they were his own.

Instead, Fen shoved those thoughts away, forcing his mind to be clear as he made his way out of the tavern. Goran was waiting in the street with two dozen guards.

“This all?” Fen asked.

“All we could spare.” Goran replied. “Someone promised reinforcements to the palace staff, and I had to follow through with that.”

“It’ll do.” Fen said. “Follow me.”

Fen led the way to the warehouse where the Chosen Storm was headquartered. There were over a dozen guards around the outside, anxiously patrolling the perimeter.

“They’re still here.” Fen said. He wasn’t certain if he was glad to have his suspicions confirmed or not.

“This’ll be a hard fight.” Goran said.

“I’ll take point, cover my flanks.” Fen said.

“Are you keeping another secret from me Fen?” Goran asked.

“Of course.” Fen fidgeted with his borrowed ring.

A boom and a flash of light brought Fen’s sword to his hand and announced the charge. All the cultists were immediately on their guard, but Fen and the two dozen guards had the advantage in numbers, taking out all the cultists in a matter of minutes.

Fen slammed open the broad loading door, revealing a hundred or so cultists who were not surprised to see Fen there.

“Fenrir, I see you owe me an apology.” The fat cultist was standing near the back of the large chamber, smiling at Fen across the room. “You lied to me.”

“You were expecting me.” Fen said, reading the man’s smugness.

“Of course.” He said. “It’s well known that you cannot keep yourself from meddling. It was only a matter of time before you brought us what we needed.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I brought reinforcements.” Fen said.

Goran and his men looked just as shocked to be called reinforcements in the face of a hundred cultists as the cultists themselves. The fat man even laughed.

“Oh, I didn’t mean them.”

Fen charged into the midst of the group, fully confident in his fight despite the odds. Fen ducked under a spear, leaped over a sword swung at his knees, and caught a lightning bolt against the blade of his sword all while felling three robed figures with precise strikes.

The ring on Fen’s thumb allowed him to read the subconscious thoughts and emotions of the cultists as he fought them, so their expertise actually worked in Fen’s favor. Their fighting, honed by years of training, had become subconscious, planting their battle instincts firmly into the part of their minds that Fen could see.

He was untouchable, flowing through each attack with perfect precision, battling against the cultists as though he were fighting against his own self. Fen cleaved through the forces of the cultists, parting them before him and leaving the dead in his wake.

With flashes of light and booms of thunder Fen fought through the cultists like a storm.

Fen became a storm.

A sense of satisfaction built in the back of Fen’s mind, and it took him several minutes of pure slaughter to notice that it wasn’t from his own mind.

Fen saw that the large cultist was at the back of the warehouse, a grin growing on his face and a glow building in his eyes.

Fen turned his slaughter towards the leader, not understanding what was happening, just knowing that he had to stop whatever that guy was doing.

Your Offering Is Accepted.

The booming words were so dissonant, sounding as if out of nowhere.

You Have Chosen The Storm.

The fat cultist was speaking, his voice having changed into a thunderous base that filled the room. He was also floating a few inches off the ground, his eyes now glowing as brightly as Fen’s sword.

The large, robed figure burst into a blinding flash of light, and with an explosive boom shot through the roof of the warehouse, shattering it on the way out.

The room fell still, all the cultists surrounding Fen were staring up at the ceiling in awe, and Fen was too stunned to act. Goran and his guards stood near the back of the room, gawking at the whole situation. Every mind in the massive room had gone quiet.

The wind howled outside, and thunder sounded overhead.

Rain began to pound against the roof.