Celestial Storm: Golden Dawn

Chapter Eleven: The Master Revealed

As we ran down the street, we were virtually unmolested by the battling cults members, for Flame and Arachne were blasting their way down the street ahead of us. Arachne tried to tackle a man that was weaving his way through the battle. He dodged the tackle, and Flame dove at him instead aiming a fire spell at the man.

"You idiots! It's me!" I heard Siegfried's voice yell at them.

Arachne paused in the act of trying to twist off Siegfried's arm.

"Oh, sorry about that," Flame said laughing, "We mistook you for an evil cultist."

"Do I look like an evil cultist to you?" Siegfried demanded.

Arachne stared at him for a moment then grabbed him by the ear.
"He looks suspicious to me! Look at his clothes!" she shouted, "Girl, why don't we string him up? Are you sure he's an ally?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure. Put him down," I said swiftly.

Growling slightly, Arachne released Siegfried, who was standing on the tips of his toes to avoid having his ear ripped off. Arachne abruptly spun away and ran down the street again blasting the fighting cultists out of her way.

"So, Siegfried," I asked, "did you find any of the leaders?"

"Yes. I defeated one of the leaders as well as one of the knights from the evil cult," Siegfried replied.

"Good," Ethiza said, "That makes four. Hopefully the others took down the other four."

We ran after Arachne, who made several turns as she rampaged along the street. Flame was on her heels attempting to beat down as many cultists as Arachne did. Arachne eventually came to two men, who started fighting back. It took me a moment to realize that the men were not cultists but members of Celestial Storm. Arachne had run into Dukhiza and Khanordhoi.

"New girl, tell your spider to stop!" Dukhiza shouted angrily.

Khanordhoi didn't say anything since he was trying to avoid being bitten on the neck by Arachne, who had him by the throat. Flame took advantage of Arachne's distraction by running ahead of her and blasting down cultists.

"Stop, Arachne! Those are allies as well!" I called out.

Looking deeply disappointed, Arachne slammed Khanordhoi down on the ground and hurried off after Flame. Khanordhoi said several very foul words that made Ethiza and Dukhiza raise their eyebrows.

"I should wash your mouth out with soap when we get back to the guild," Ethiza remarked.

"Shut up! That damn new girl's spider demon nearly killed me!" Khanordhoi roared, "New girl, keep that thing away from me, or you'll be needing a new signet soon!"

"I told you guys that I'm not good at controlling demons," I protested.

"Get better at it," Khanordhoi snapped, "Another run in like that, and I might end up with a broken neck. I should have suspected this from the moment you showed pity on those thieving witches!"

"Don't tell me you're still sore about that!" I cried in disbelief.

"I'm not going to forgive anyone who compares me with those trashy enforcer-"

"SILENCE!" Ethiza roared, "If you want to argue that badly, it can wait until we return to the guild. Follow those two!"

She pointed at Arachne and Flame, who were well ahead of us. Giving me a filthy look, Khanordhoi immediately turned and ran off after the two of them. We all followed Arachne and Flame down the street. They rounded several more corners as they fought their way through the streets. I heard someone yell something in a language that I did not understand as we rounded another corner.