The Curse-breakers of Avondor || ONC 2022 || ✔

Chapter 7: Grave Situations

Terreia Kalister had no idea how many Cursed to expect.

She had to admit she knew next to nothing about the current situation in the Free City. How many people had died and how many still lived? How many Cursed remained in the city, how many had left to seek food elsewhere? Where could the highest populations of Cursed be concentrated? The Mayor's residence and the Pantheon were located right in the city's center; did that make it a high-risk area? Or had the Cursed mostly gone to the harbour with its taverns and whorehouses, where dock workers and sailors had thrived? Surely the Cursed could find ample meals there.

Terry just hoped there wouldn't be a horde of the beasts waiting outside once she and Audren got to opening the door.

"We need a plan," the lord had said when they'd locked the bandits up like they'd said they would. "If there are Cursed outside, it'll be impossible for us to get to the Pantheon's entrance unseen. The building doesn't have a door we can close, so we'd undoubtedly be followed inside. I think we can agree it would be highly inconvenient to request our favour from the Sun God while also fending off the undead."

Terry had thought as much. She mentally cursed the City Council for choosing an open temple entrance and never installing a proper door. She understood the reasoning behind it, that the way to the Gods could never be closed to anybody. Admirable, but not a useful ideology when it came to curses seeking to bring about the end of humanity.

"We could split up," she suggested. "I can use my magic to keep the Cursed out to the best of my ability. Meanwhile, you can make your plea to Solmar. It shouldn't take long, right?"

Audren frowned. "Do you think you can handle that?"

Terry raised a single eyebrow in reply. Her friends had told her it made her look intimidating. Judging from Audren's reaction, they'd been right.

"Not that I'm doubting your skills," the nobleman added quickly. "It's just… There might be many, and, well… You did say using magic takes a toll on you. What if you simply get overwhelmed?"

He had a point. If there were too many Cursed, a very real possibility, she could only hold them off for so long. The situation could get ugly quite fast. Still, Terry was confident in her abilities and certain she could keep going a while longer. The magic she'd performed today hadn't been of the most complex kind and hadn't taken up too much energy. The real work was still to begin.

Besides, it wasn't like she'd truly be fighting alone.

"Do you have a better idea?" she asked. "If you do, I'd love to hear it. But in all honesty, unless you have another secret passage you can conjure up, I doubt we have another choice."

Audren still looked uncomfortable at the idea. "It doesn't feel right to leave anyone alone with the Cursed. There has to be a way for me to help you deal with them, and then we can go to Solmar's shrine together."

Terry sighed. Sometimes kind people were much more difficult to deal with than assholes. "I don't need any saving as of yet, Lord Audren, but your people do. So save them. Go to the shrine as fast as you can without waiting for me. I don't plan to die, so just trust me, the way I trusted you when you led us to the Mayor's Crypt."

That did the trick. While the lord didn't look pleased, he evidently saw sense her words. He nodded after a pause. "If you put it like that, I suppose… Fine."

Mayor Gilvertos' front door had been boarded up. To get outside, they had to break through. Terry saved her strength for later and let Audren take care of it. Using the mace he'd taken from the bandit leaders, the lord destroyed the planks that had been used to seal the inhabitants of the house inside and keep the undead out. When he was done, he dropped the weapon in disgust; Terry supposed it had killed his friend.