Treachery : book 2 of Codex Elysium

Prologue

Prologue

Six months ago: Midgard

A deafening crash of thunder drowned out Cassie's cry as she fell to the ground. She hit the tarmac hard, skinning her hands as she landed. Lightning raked the sky, briefly illuminating the empty street around her. She swore violently, cursing her tired legs, the burning stitch in her side and the never ending rain that lashed down. There was no sign of her pursuers but then, there never was until it was too late to escape them. The rain continued to lash down, the wind a howling gale. Jason Redfield never heard his best friend fall or could he hear her murderous curses as she lay sprawled on the wet ground. However, something made him stop running, some inner instinct made him stop, made him feel that Cassie was no longer keeping up with him. Jason turned and added his own curses to the stormy night as he began racing back towards his fallen friend.

There were plenty of streetlights dotted along both sides of the street but their light was heavily dimmed by the storm. Jason held out his hand and had to shout at the top of his voice just to be heard over the crashing storm. "Get up Cass! We don't have time to stop now" Cassie's dark eyes were filled with fear but also fury, she swore at Jason but the wind whipped her words away. She swiped her long dark hair out of her face and glared up at Jason. "I can't do this anymore! This is too messed up!"

Jason hauled his friend back to her feet, she was over six foot tall and towered over him when she stood. Being much shorter, Jason was forced to look up to meet her eyes. "I know, this is all wrong. But we knew this was coming, we had the choice to turn away but we didn't" Jason ran a hand through his long brown hair, his blue eyes seemed to burn brightly in the storm light "We must keep running. The Witch Hunters are ordered to kill on site, they will show no mercy. I'm not even sure they are human." Cassie was too tired to argue, she wanted nothing more than a place to lie down and sleep for a month, a nice hot bath, some clean clothes, even some hot food would be nice. That wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.

In just three months, the world had gone completely mad. So much had changed, so quickly. It all started with an archaeological dig in the desert and the finding of the final chapter of the bible. One hundred percent authentic, believed to written by Jesus himself. It stated very clearly that 02.02.2020 was the day of judgement, the day that Jesus and his army of angels would return, the day that evil would be purged once and for all. The Christian community went wild over this, they finally had something solid and seemingly irrefutable. They became fanatical and quickly gained huge new followings. Religious leaders stepped up their propaganda, spreading the fear of judgement and eternal damnation. Church attendance soared. At first the Christians tried to help the nonbelievers and heathens, they tried to convert them and offered baptisms in every local church. As the churches power grew and grew, its influence spread over the masses then over the governments, even the laws. Everything changed then, the Witch Hunts began again.

Jason scanned his surroundings again, the street seemed empty but then it always did. The Witch Hunters never showed themselves until it was far too late. In his heart he knew that they were not human, they never ran or even sprinted, they didn't even move at a brisk pace yet they could not be out run. For two weeks straight Jason and Cassie had been on the run, moving to every safe place they knew in the city and still the Witch Hunters found them. Jason suspected that the city was crawling with spies and informants but he had no solid proof of that. The very first time they had encountered the Witch Hunters was during the festival of Samhain. Jason was the leader of one of the most powerful Druid groups in southern Brittan and Cassie was his second in command. The druid group was gathered, they were feasting and honouring the Norse Gods. Half way through a prayer, the doors to their meeting hall splintered and crashed to the ground. Three Witch Hunters in long trench coats and wide brimmed hats stepped in. they moved with such calm, predatory grace. As one they drew swords and silently moved forward. One of the druid group's main activities was fencing, all twenty six members were highly skilled with the blade, and several were champions. However they only carried ceremonial blades in the hall. The Witch Hunters attacked in unison, hardly seeming to move at all, they attacked in total silence and in less than two minutes, twenty four Druids lay dead or dying.

The Druids had willing fought to the death to give Cassie and Jason time to do the only thing they could. Run. They had dived out of a window and ran for their lives, they had been running ever since. "I can't go any further!" protested Cassie. "I am starving, exhausted and in serious need of a bath!" "We can't stop! You know we can't fight them! Look at what they did to our friends, and there was a lot more of them than us."

Cassie raised her face into the pouring rain and screamed "I know that, I am still covered in their blood!" She tugged on her soaked T-shirt, it had dark blood stains that the rain was doing nothing to wash out. "I can't keep on running for the rest of my life and neither can you! What do they even want from us?"

Jason thought about all the bits of news he had overheard, the newspaper headlines he had seen, the preachers who shouted from every street corner. It was very simple what they wanted. All the nonbelievers dead. "They want us dead Cass" Cassie sank to her knees and began to sob "But why? What did we ever do to deserve that?" "We simply chose different Gods, a different path in life. That is our only crime. Still I think there may be a way out of this" Cassie looked up hopefully, her tears cutting tracks through the dirt and grime on her face. "What?" "We use their own rules against them!" "I don't understand?" Jason placed his hands on his best friend's shoulders and looked deep into her frightened brown eyes. "Sanctuary! It is written deep in their church laws that they must help and give shelter to any who seek it. Regardless of who they are or what they have done" Cassie brushed Jason's hands away and leapt to her feet, she was looking at him like he had completely lost his mind "Are you insane? We would be walking into a trap! We may as well just stand here and wait for the Witch Hunters to show up" Jason looked back over his friends shoulder and sighed deeply at what he saw. Wish granted.  "Well I am going to make a run for the cathedral, it is our best hope, are you with me?"

A short way up the street, behind Cassie stood a lone figure. His long coat flapped in the wind and yet his hat seemed oddly unaffected by the conditions. Cassie had gone ridged, her terrified eyes widening even further. Jason didn't need to look behind him to know that there was at least one more Witch Hunter behind him. Both ends of the street were cut off then, their only choice now was to break left or right.  "I think this is where we part ways" said Cassie in a faint whisper. There was no way she could follow Jason to the cathedral. She wasn't ready to die. "If you want to give yourself up that is your choice"

Jason pulled his best friend into a tight embrace, tears flowed freely as they both realised they would probably never see each other again. "May Odin be ever with you" whispered Cassie. I hope for your sake he is real. She didn't say that last bit out loud. "May he be with you too" said Jason. The two Witch Hunters began to prowl forward, the two friends took one last look at each other and with a final silent goodbye they both ran. Jason went to the right, towards a garden with a low fence while Cassie went left towards an apartment block.