Halls of the Dead

~Chapter 23 - Brothers in Arms~

~Chapter 23- Brothers in Arms~

Aingr and the Kingsguard had been scouring the inner circle of the city for Deporah and her family and had found absolutely nothing. The heavy rain didn't make the search any easier. Exactly as Aingr hoped. He had his own hunch about where they might be.

At nightfall, he went to find Schwartz to accompany him but couldn't track him down. So Aingr headed towards the outer ring on his own.

He headed towards Deporah's childhood home. The place had become decrepit over the years. He hoped he'd find the family there.

But when he arrived, he saw the front door had been caved in and torn apart, and one of the windows shattered. He could hear smashing sounds from within the home. Aingr drew his sword and headed inside.

He found an overturned table, scraps of paper everywhere, Lumb and Ceptance's axes lying on the floor, and a member of the Kingsguard hacking away at a bedroom door. Even from behind, he recognized the man.

"Schwartz?"

Schwartz suddenly stopped his destruction of the bedroom door and slowly turned to him. There was blood around his collar, and he looked deranged. Unlike himself.

"What're you doing here?" Schwartz asked in an uncharacteristically proper way. Sharp amber eyes stared at him.

"I could ask you the same thing, mate."

A voice came from the bedroom which Schwartz was trying to break through. Deporah's voice. "Don't let him touch you! It's not Schwartz!"

Not Schwartz?

"You found them? Why didn't you tell me, mate? Why did you come on your own?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I wanted to reason with them myself, but they attacked me," Schwartz said, inching closer to him.

Sir? Schwartz had never called him sir in their entire time working with each other. At least not without a great deal of sarcasm.

"That's not true!" Deporah cried from the bedroom.

"Whatever you do, don't let him get near you!" Lumb added.

"Sir, they're not well. Don't listen to them," Schwartz said with an uncomfortable amount of formality, inching dangerously close to him.

"Stay right there," Aingr said sternly, and Schwartz stood still. He shouted to the bedroom, "Why shouldn't I let him touch me? Why did you say this isn't Schwartz?"

"He's possessed. I know it's hard to believe, but a spirit jumped from that man Wright's body to Schwartz's. The spirit is the one behind all the kidnappings. If he manages to touch you, the spirit might jump to your body."

Schwartz shook his head, "They've lost it, sir. I don't know what happened to them, but they're not speaking sanely right now."

"We can prove it! We took a book from the Hall of the Dead! We can prove everything!" Lumb shouted from the bedroom.

Lightning struck outside, briefly illuminating the house. A glint of light reflected off the Greatsword being held by Schwartz. The way he held it made him look like an amateur. He gripped it tightly, making his whole arm rigid. But it wasn't just that. The way he was poised looked as if he was preparing for an attack.

"... Why did you come here alone? Why didn't you find me? I need a good reason, Schwartz."

Schwartz shook his head in mock disbelief, "Sir, I told you. I wanted to reason with them on my own."