Nephis froze. Even her wildest dreams couldn't have prepared her for this.
Instinctively she began to count the people around her. Ten, twenty, fifty... there was definitely a hundred sleepers here, wasn't there? She had become quite good at determining the size of a crowd in her years as a military leader, and she felt she was not far off.
Hundred? Two hundred?
It was next to nothing.
Nephis's thoughts were churning. Her muscles tightened involuntarily, like preparing for a blow. But this was a blow she could not shield herself from. She could not fight it — the fight was already lost, lost before she even knew anything about it.
She looked at the other cohort members, each looking disturbed in their own ways. Effie looked especially terrified, her jaw hanging open.
"What happened?" she asked, too loudly.
Gunlaug turned to Effie and the huntress shivered.
"You tell us."
Nephis frowned. She was about to say something — although she was not quite sure what — when she noticed Seishan walking briskly in their direction. The legacy was outwardly composed as always and her eyes bore holes onto Nephis's forehead.
"What is this, Seishan?" Nephis asked. "What should we tell you?"
Seishan stopped few steps from her and Nephis noticed that she had dried blood on her hands. She was mostly covered by an elegant-looking grey armor — the armor, too, had more than few drops of blood etched onto its surface - and a black silk coat that has to have been memory as well.
The sight would have been scary... but Nephis had seen the woman like she was as a saint, and in comparison this Seishan looked young and weak and innocent.
She spoke in a cold voice.
"It had been only few days since you, allegedly, left the city when a corrupted nightmare creature attacked the Bright Castle. First it of course swept through the outer settlement, killing almost everyone. Then it entered the castle and forced rest of us to flee it." Seishan looked disdainfully at Gunlaug. "No one had the strength to stand against the monster and so, the castle was lost. Of course, many had heard about your rumoured base at the cathedral and that was where most of the survivors went... Only to find it empty."
"How many survived?"
"There was couple of hundred of us, in the beginning. But our numbers have dwindled every week since. This place is being attacked by more and more powerful nightmare creatures... as for now, I think we have around two hundred sleepers here. Most of them are part of either the Host or my handmaidens, but few of them come from the outer settlement as well."
Seishan shook her head.
"But I think it's your time to answer some questions. First being... what the hell did you do?"
"Why do you think we did anything?" Nephis asked. But in her mind's eye she already saw the implications. The monster that had attacked the Bright Castle... the one who had lived in the cathedral...
Seishan's thoughts seemed to play out the same as hers.
"Please... the creature that attacked was one of true darkness. Consequently, so was the rumoured nightmare creature lurking in this cathedral, and yet the cathedral is now empty. Doesn't that seem suspicious to you? I only wonder how you managed to drive it away from here. Or, well, maybe you didn't. But it seems like there is some sort of connection with all your meddling and this... this disaster." Her voice shook a bit at the end of the phrase, betraying some burning emotion that was just below the surface of her calm facade.
Still, Nephis remained composed. She felt light pain under her eyes but otherwise everything in her was unmoving. She surveyed Seishan, Gunlaug and the members of the Host that had gathered nearby like a commander made of pure steel, and raised an eyebrow.
"There is no connection. The creature that resided in this cathedral is different than the one that attacked the castle. In fact, you stand here only because me and my cohort killed the devil of this cathedral before we left."
But Seishan was not convinced and, judging by the expressions, neither was anyone else.
"Even if that is true, it seems to me that you know more than you let on. Actually, I know that you do."
Nephis watched, stupidifed, as Seishan reached in some unseen pocket of her bloodstained cloak and pulled out a scrawny piece of paper. Nephis was given no time to try and decipher the meaning of the gesture as Seishan handed the paper to her, her mouth in a thin line.
"This was only thing left in the cathedral when the Host came — it was lying at the feet of the statue. Are you saying you have no memory of writing this?"
Nephis realized then that the piece of paper was in fact a letter, covered in flowy handwriting. She struggled to read the first few sentences — the scribbling there was almost childlike and very difficult to decipher, but then the script changed and she could easily make out the words in the paragraphs.
If you are reading this, something terrible must have happened in the Bright Castle. We are sorry for this as well as for all your losses, and even more sorry that we could not welcome you to this old church. At least it is now empty for your use... as for where we — the cohort of Changing Star — are currently, that is difficult to say exactly... but we should be back in three months...
Nephis's frown deepened as she read the letter. It described some of the lore of the Forgotten Shore, explained the goal of the cohort's expedition and laid out the general plan of escape from the Forgotten Shore.
At least that explains how they knew to wait for us today, Nephis thought.
"I... didn't know about this", Nephis. "But I can guess who wrote it... though I have no idea why."
She turned to look at Cassie who, despite her blindness, seemed to sense that the spotlight was now on her. Her face was pale but she stepped forward nevertheless, clutching the pommel of Quiet Dancer. She sighed.
"You are right. I did write the letter. But my intention was not to cause any confusion. I mostly just wanted to prevent ill rumours from spreading... and give hope to the people after they would flee the castle."
There were several boos from the audience.
"So you did know about the attack in advance!" Seishan exclaimed. "Yet you did nothing!"
Cassie shook her head.
"I was the only one, and I did not tell anyone else. But if I had, then you would have tried to stop it. And you would have all died... Which would have meant the end to all of us."
"You could have warned the people of the castle!"
Now it was Cassie's turn to raise her voice. Nephis could see patches of red blossoming on her cheecks.
"To what end? So you would all come here instead? The creature would have come here and slaughtered all of you. It would have found you no matter where you were."
She seemed to breath deeply, which gave Nephis time to contemplate her words. On an intellectual level she agreed with Cassie: warning the people would not have prevented the catastrophe. And warning Nephis could have resulted in her trying to take on a much to powerful foe and dying in the process.
But it always stung when your best friend kept you in the dark. Would there ever be a day where it would not?
"Nevertheless, I take the full blame", Cassie finally said. "If there is punishments to be had for what the cohort has done... "
But Cassie did not get to say the rest. Instead she was stopped by Kai as the archer seized Cassie from a shoulder and stepped forward. Nephis could clearly see that the former idol was terrified, but he stood his ground under Gunlaug's and other's gazes.
"Not the full blame."
Kai shivered under the scrutiny of everyone but continued nevertheless, his voice ringing clearly, audible to everyone present.
" I — I also knew about all of this. As you can see, I helped her write most of it. So if you intend to punish Cassie for anything... you can punish me, too."
Cassie looked flabbergasted. "You don't have to — "
"Well, I want to."
Kai squeezed Cassie's shoulder, trying to appear confident. Meanwhile, Gunlaug straightened his back and looked around, taking in the crowd that had gathered to see the events unfold.
"Friends! I think we have heard enough — even though I'm certain there is even more that this group has yet to tell us. Nevertheless, I think we are ready to make a decision. Do we all agree?"
There was wary applause. It seemed that the people had not quite forgotten how many of them Nephis had slaughtered last time around... or maybe Kai's gesture had managed to warm hearts of some of them.
Gunlaug continued.
"You can all attest to the fact that I have not been a perfect ruler! I have been harsh at times and I have done things I'm not proud of. But not once have I lied to your face like this saviour of yours. Not once have I used your goodwill unfairly, only to betray your faith in the next second. Not once have I failed to deliver on my promises... unlike Changing Star and her cohort. Even now they have orchestrated this theatrical show to try and gain some goodwill among us... but we will not be fooled. I propose that we, the dreamers of the Dark City, hold a court of justice here and now. Justice to the fallen ones... "
Now the applause was stronger. Nephis looked around, seeing eyes and faces of her former friends, now united against her. The noise seemed to increase gradually and the members of Host crept closer, surrounding the cohort on all sides.
"Justice!"
Someone in the crowd started to chant and one by one, other people joined him.
Nephis looked up. The grey sky of the Forgotten Shore hanged low overhead, the rumbling clouds promising storm. Then she looked down, at her cohort members. They had formed a small circle, their backs against each other. Only Nephis remained alone - she had walked further ahead to converse with Gunlaug.
"Justice... justice... justice... "
To hell with justice, Nephis thought. She straightened her back and looked straight at Gunlaug.
"No."
She took a step forward.
"You are mistaken if you think you can simply condemn me and my cohort to death. I did not think you'd be so naive, Gunlaug, not after the way you got to power yourself. But surely you have realized that I can't afford to die now, or die here. I'm going to escape Forgotten Shore along with everyone who will follow me, and no one will stop me, least of all you."
Gunlaug scoffed.
"You think you can escape through the Gateway? You're delusional. I wonder if that true name of yours is even real or just something you came up with to fool others? Not that it matters. No one survives in the Dream Realm alone, after all, and right now you are alone."
"She's not."
Nephis looked behind her back and saw Effie raising her spear. The huntress did look menacing, Nephis had to admit, in all her glory, and others in the cohort were scary in their own right. Sunny had Saint summoned and was looking gleefully around, seeing if any of the opponents would meet his eyes. Even Cassie had readied herself for combat.
Nephis knew that she would have to make the difference, though. She tried to not sound too furious.
"Gunlaug... this was never about who you think is right or wrong. This is about power. And this is your last chance: you can be my ally or my enemy, but you should think long and hard before taking the latter option... I will first kill the creature of darkness and then I will kill the terror of the Crimson Spire. You are simply an obstacle to be removed."
"No sleeper can kill a fallen terror, much less the creature that attacked the castle", Gunlaug said disdainfully.
"Watch me."
Nephis was now an awakened. More than that, she was an awakened demon, soon-to-be devil. Her essence control was flawless, carrying with itself memories of her time as a saint and as a sovereign.
She leaped, and in blink of an eye she was in front of Gunlaug. A river of white flames separated from her, circling around the cohort and around her and Gunlaug, separating the golden monarch from his subordinates.
Gunlaug did not even have time to react. Nephis didn't bother using Blessing — instead she just wrapped one third of her flames around her gauntlet and brought it down on Gunlaug's head.
The blow didn't kill him — Gunlaug still had a transcendent echo protecting him — but it sure stunned him. Gunlaug collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been broken. A fracture appeared on his helmet along with a loud cracking sound.
Nephis looked around, the people covering in fear all around her. Even her cohort — except for Sunny — looked quite terrified.
"Is my message clear?" Nephis asked. "Are there any left who want to oppose me?"
There was a moment of complete silence.
"I thought not. Let us get inside and have a meeting."