An hour later, the castle guards brought a disheveled orphan into the meeting hall.

Calimei looked over the boy as he munched and slurped on sweet breads, cheese, and whatever other food the servants placed before him at the dining hall table. His sandy-blonde hair was a tangled mess hanging down in his dirt and freckle covered face. His white shirt was frayed along the collar and sleeves, with a small tear at the shoulders.

“This boy,” said one of the guards, “he says he came from Godsmouth, a city built around one of the biggest adonium mines in Tir Shazelle. Poor boy’s been running for days to get away from that place.”

The boy gulped down a goblet of water and mumbled, “Thanksh,” at the servant through the food in his mouth.

Calimei and Zale exchanged looks, then Zale addressed the guard. “My lady wishes to know the boy’s name before we proceed.”

The boy mumbled something, and the guard said, “Rufus, your ladyship. His name is Rufus.”

“Very well, Rufus,” said Zale. “I know you’re hungry, even starving, but you should slow down when you eat. It’s easier on your tummy. And it’s far better manners.”

Rufus set down the sweet roll in his hand and finished chewing what was in his mouth. His bulging cheeks emptied when he swallowed hard. “Sorry.”

“All is forgiven,” said Zale. “Now, are you ready to tell us what happened in Godsmouth?”

Rufus stared down at his plate and rocked back and forth. “Demons took over.”

Calimei’s blood turned cold in her veins, and she whispered to Zale, “Try to keep him t-talking.”

Zale gave a sympathetic look. “Please, tell us more. It is my lady’s wish that we drive the demons out.”

Rufus picked at one of the bread rolls in front of him, flaking off the crust. “At first, people just started actin’ kinda weird,” he said. “Generous people didn’t give alms anymore. The butcher stopped opening his shop each day… the best barber in town gave bad shaves… little things what don’t seem to matter too much at first.”

Rufus tore off a piece of bread from the roll, ate it, and continued. “Then the dogs came. There were stray dogs on almost every street. Big, black dogs with nasty bark and bite. At night you’d look out your window and see a pair of shiny eyes lookin’ back at you. Some of the grown-ups tried to drive the dogs out, but anyone who went out to hurt the dogs got mauled. Ended up wearing a pine overcoat.”

The boy tore more of his bread but did not eat it. “Some of the other boys and I thought, ‘maybe we just need to feed the dogs.’ We could barely feed ourselves, especially since people stopped giving alms, but we thought it best to feed the dogs, so they wouldn’t eat anybody else.”

“Did that work?” Zale asked.

“Can’t rightly say,” said Rufus. “After a few more days, this woman came round town walking the dogs on long leashes. She’d whistle, and the dogs would do whatever she wanted.”

“The dogs were hers?” asked Zale.

Rufus shrugged.

“Why didn’t the city guard look into it?”

Again, Rufus shrugged. “The constables started following her around, just like the dogs did. They did whatever she told ‘em to do. Then the kidnappings began.” Rufus shuddered. “We’d hear stories of people… grown people… being snatched from their beds in the middle of the night. They’d be gone for a day or so, then they’d come back actin’ all… diff’rent. They wouldn’t even look at ya straight.”

Calimei wondered how it was that this boy had watched his whole community fall apart, but not a tear shed from his eyes when he related the story. Had this orphan simply become numb to tragedy? She leaned in close to Zale and whispered, “Demons and n-n-not just a witch?”

Zale nodded. “You said the town was taken over by demons. How do you know all this weirdness was the work of demons?”

Rufus shrugged. “What other explanation is there? A weird woman comes into town and everyone acts diff’rent? Sounds like demons to me. I heard stories from Spuds about demons what can change the way you think with poison.”

“From spuds?” Zale repeated, a confused expression on her face. “You… heard about this from potatoes?”

Rufus gave her an irritated and incredulous expression. “What? No! Don’t be stupid! Spuds is the boy who can read!”

“Oh…”

“Young man!” one of the guards said. “You will address her ladyship with proper respect!”

“I weren’t talking to her ladyship.” Rufus pointed at Zale. “Talkin’ to granny.”

Calimei and Zale both snickered, and Calimei raised her hand to dismiss the guard’s ire.

Zale continued, “So, when did you decide to leave Godsmouth?”

“When the mayor said everyone was to go into the mines,” said Rufus. “He sent old people down there, children, cripples, the sick and dying, everyone. Anyone who refused got taken away and… well, either they came back diff’rent, or we never saw them again. Like Inquisitor Owen.”

Calimei and Zale’s faces both turned pale at the sound of this. “The city’s inquisitor is missing?”

“Mhmm.”

Calimei whispered to Zale, “Give the order.”

Zale turned to the guards, “Send our agents to Godsmouth immediately to investigate. If the city really has fallen into demon hands we must do something now!”

. . .

“We cannot tell K-King Ozz!”

Zale nodded to Calimei. “I agree. Your mother learned all too well what happens when demons infiltrate a city…”

Both women stared off into the distance, recalling the horrors they’d heard. Angels flying overhead in a halo. The screams of countless souls as they burned alive. All mortals who knew of these terrors still flinched at the sound of the name “Metorael.”

“Still want to marry him?” Zale folded her arms. “For all his kind deeds, he is still an angel, which means there’s a good chance he’s been involved in such a massacre. Or knows personally someone who has.”

Calimei rolled her eyes. “You’ve rrrread the reports. You know he he he’s got a gentle heart!”

Zale’s expression appeared unimpressed. “Even gentle hearts are capable of terrible atrocities under the right circumstances.”

Calimei pointed an accusing finger at Zale and stammered incoherently for a moment. She struggled not just with forming the words, but with finding them at all. Zale stood staring at Calimei, patiently awaiting the young lady’s rebuke. Calimei forced her eyes shut and clenched her left fist while her other hand continued to wag her finger at Zale.

“The g-g-g-g-gods ordered those… ‘atrocities!’” Calimei finally squeezed out.

“Does that make them any better?” Zale asked. “Tell me truly, my lady. Do you believe that ‘because the gods said so’ justifies everything the angels have done? The destruction of Clearpass? How about the massacre at Basinbreak? Reaverburgh? Lonfort?”

Calimei clenched both her fists and lightly banged them against her own temples in frustration. “Ssssss…”

“Hazelridge?” Zale continued. “Mossbury?”

“STOP!” Calimei cried.

Zale fell silent and folded her hands in front of her lap.

Calimei took a deep breath. “What Rufus d-d-described sounds like a sssss… a sangrel. If that’s the c-c-case, we just n-n-need to cure the poison and G-G-Godsmouth will go back to n-n-normal.”

“Cure the poison,” said Zale, “or kill the sangrel.”

“Yes,” said Lady Calimei. “K-kill the demon with the d-d-dogs!”