yours.”
“Or, perhaps, you believe tempting me with the Gate is the way to lure me?”
“Put your fears aside, Captain, after all can you afford to risk someone else discovering the Gate? I wonder,” the breathy voice cracks with a brief chuckle, which sets the skull’s teeth rattling. “Come or don’t come, as you choose; if it is a trap then at the least you shall find new blood there.”
“Where should I go exactly?”
“East. Just find the girl. She is returning to her father’s estates, south of Brigton , it’s likely that she will be attacked and abducted before she can make it to the safety of her home. It may be necessary to intercept her and escort her back to her father’s lands. If you can do this, your enemy will be forced to come to you.”
“How am I supposed to find her before they do?”
“You will have my help. This is not my only servant, I have eyes and ears everywhere’ If you act now, you should be able to find her soon enough to thwart the Strigoi.”
“And Leedon won’t be seeking her too? What’s to stop me being arrested for a traitor if I am found with her?”
“We both know that that is an unlikely eventuality.”
“Yes but I might kill good men and for what? Why not help him find her? Surely that would end their plans more effectively than I could?”
“I told you the General has been,” the breathy voice pauses, “changed since the Citadel. He has spent much of his time seeking this alliance, politics and his own plans demand it. I too doubt that he would knowingly aid the enemy but I suspect her return to him will fit perfectly with the Strigoi plans.”
“Then warn him of the danger. Leedon would never do something that played into their hands.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t if he truly believed that were the case but I cannot risk trying to communicate directly with him and he would be even less tolerant than you of my messengers. He makes no distinction between Necromancer and vampire and would simply not trust any warning that came from me.”
“Is there a difference between the devil’s servants?” Blake asks sardonically
“Not one that zealots can appreciate but I will not debate with you. Even if I could find some credible way to warn him, the General might still ignore me, he is blinded by something he found in the Citadel, a legend which resonates strongly with his own ambitions .”
“The Gate?”
“Indeed! Like you he is obsessed with what it might represent. A Gate to Heaven Itself is a prize that no Crusader or Pilgrim could willingly turn away from and as the head of the Crusade.”
“What’s left of it!”
“True its numbers have dwindled since the end of the war but that only makes the quest more appealing to the General; having destroyed the evil in this land he now seeks to lead his followers to the very Gates of Heaven.”
“You know as well as I do that evil is alive and well.”
“But Leedon cannot acknowledge that without also admitting that the Crusade failed. No he seeks something more than conquest, now he seeks the Gate. It is my suspicion that the leeches intend to use his new ambitions to regain control of the Union or even to somehow harness the Gate’s power for themselves.”
“They could never even approach that holy place.”
“I do not know what they can and can’t do captain. I know what they will try to do. If they are not stopped both the Gate and the General may be lost.”
“You were at the battle, and even now, I am sure, are close to him.” Blake states simply. “It seems he is surrounded by unholy influence, what would your kind make of the Gate, should he succeed?”
“I will reveal no more of myself than I have to, Captain. I know you see little difference between ‘my kind’ and the Strigoi. I can only assure you that you and your quest are in no danger from us, indeed your hunting has served us well.”
“Whoever ‘us’ might be.”
“What I am or am not does not matter,
“Or, perhaps, you believe tempting me with the Gate is the way to lure me?”
“Put your fears aside, Captain, after all can you afford to risk someone else discovering the Gate? I wonder,” the breathy voice cracks with a brief chuckle, which sets the skull’s teeth rattling. “Come or don’t come, as you choose; if it is a trap then at the least you shall find new blood there.”
“Where should I go exactly?”
“East. Just find the girl. She is returning to her father’s estates, south of Brigton , it’s likely that she will be attacked and abducted before she can make it to the safety of her home. It may be necessary to intercept her and escort her back to her father’s lands. If you can do this, your enemy will be forced to come to you.”
“How am I supposed to find her before they do?”
“You will have my help. This is not my only servant, I have eyes and ears everywhere’ If you act now, you should be able to find her soon enough to thwart the Strigoi.”
“And Leedon won’t be seeking her too? What’s to stop me being arrested for a traitor if I am found with her?”
“We both know that that is an unlikely eventuality.”
“Yes but I might kill good men and for what? Why not help him find her? Surely that would end their plans more effectively than I could?”
“I told you the General has been,” the breathy voice pauses, “changed since the Citadel. He has spent much of his time seeking this alliance, politics and his own plans demand it. I too doubt that he would knowingly aid the enemy but I suspect her return to him will fit perfectly with the Strigoi plans.”
“Then warn him of the danger. Leedon would never do something that played into their hands.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t if he truly believed that were the case but I cannot risk trying to communicate directly with him and he would be even less tolerant than you of my messengers. He makes no distinction between Necromancer and vampire and would simply not trust any warning that came from me.”
“Is there a difference between the devil’s servants?” Blake asks sardonically
“Not one that zealots can appreciate but I will not debate with you. Even if I could find some credible way to warn him, the General might still ignore me, he is blinded by something he found in the Citadel, a legend which resonates strongly with his own ambitions .”
“The Gate?”
“Indeed! Like you he is obsessed with what it might represent. A Gate to Heaven Itself is a prize that no Crusader or Pilgrim could willingly turn away from and as the head of the Crusade.”
“What’s left of it!”
“True its numbers have dwindled since the end of the war but that only makes the quest more appealing to the General; having destroyed the evil in this land he now seeks to lead his followers to the very Gates of Heaven.”
“You know as well as I do that evil is alive and well.”
“But Leedon cannot acknowledge that without also admitting that the Crusade failed. No he seeks something more than conquest, now he seeks the Gate. It is my suspicion that the leeches intend to use his new ambitions to regain control of the Union or even to somehow harness the Gate’s power for themselves.”
“They could never even approach that holy place.”
“I do not know what they can and can’t do captain. I know what they will try to do. If they are not stopped both the Gate and the General may be lost.”
“You were at the battle, and even now, I am sure, are close to him.” Blake states simply. “It seems he is surrounded by unholy influence, what would your kind make of the Gate, should he succeed?”
“I will reveal no more of myself than I have to, Captain. I know you see little difference between ‘my kind’ and the Strigoi. I can only assure you that you and your quest are in no danger from us, indeed your hunting has served us well.”
“Whoever ‘us’ might be.”
“What I am or am not does not matter,
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