Chapter 27
Before the lieutenant could get a good look at me, I shapeshifted slightly into grey fox form.
Making sure he wasn't looking directly at me, I withdrew my tentacles and assumed a Being form. These changes were close enough that he wouldn't notice, yet distant enough that he probably wouldn't take me for Johan Cross, and the fact that I was dressed as an acolyte helped as well. I was not the only grey canid amongst his flock, and that should confuse matters further.
As I watched, the lieutenant shifted as well, hiding his wings so that he could once again pass for a Being himself. Interesting, I thought. So his own men don't know what he is? I might be able to use that to my advantage.
"You!" the lieutenant barked, pointing at Malnemar as his men arrived behind him. "Let the Being go. What is the meaning of this outrage?"
"We were partaking in a sacred religious duty when these men arrived and stole our sacred chalice, defiling it and angering our god," the alsatian spat furiously as his tentacles unwound from me.
"And is it common practice in these religious duties to order yer acolytes to kill someone?" the wolf laughed harshly. "May I remind ye that sacrificing other Creatures is counted as murder under section 7 of the region's penal code?"
Malnemar was too angry to reply to that, so the lieutenant snapped his fingers and his officers stood the alsatian against the wall, guarding him with the mini-crossbow.
"You. The incubus with the chalice. Put it down and explain yeself."
"No," said Petter, clutching it tightly. "It contains the soul of Lucien Small and Malnemar was going to eat it. I cannot let that happen."
"And how do I know your plan wasn't to eat it yourself?" replied the other wolf. "I was summoned here to arrest Johan Cross for murdering Small, and ye fit the description I was given to a tee. Now come on, Mr. Cross... Put the chalice on the floor and surrender quietly."
Petter reluctantly did so. "For your information, I am not Johan Cross," he replied softly. "I am Petter Josefsohn. If you wish to arrest me, I will not resist - but I beg of you, please... take great care of the chalice."
"Now you," said the lieutenant, pointing at me. "Yes, you. Ye were fighting Malnemar. Why?"
Turning to face him, I was able to make out the name tag on his armour: 'Paladin Sheppard'. But before I could answer, Malnemar let out a cry of fury.
"HE IS JOHAN CROSS," he yelled. "He defiled the ceremony! He killed Small! He tried to kill me!"
"He stopped you from eating Lucien's soul, you mean," I retorted.
"He looks like a Being," said Paladin. "But it can be hard to tell with these things. Especially since no-one knows what Johan Cross really looked like... But still. My money's on the incubus, personally. The Being-Creature Council will want to have a word with him."
"That's not Johan Cross," I started. "That's my father. I..." but before I could finish, the room was plunged into darkness.
Although a wolf - even a furre - has better night vision than a human, Paladin and I needed some light to see by and the basement we were in had no natural lighting at all. Malnemar knew this very well, and each time the rest of us had been distracted, he had gently edged his way closer and closer to the light switch, which happened to be on the wall where Paladin was lining up his prisoners.
Pushing the acolytes out of the way, I cast a dim light spell and raced over to where Petter had stood. Malnemar was already there, but he had not been able find the chalice until I had helpfully shown him where it was. As he reached to take it I kicked his hand away, seizing the chalice myself and disappearing.
I reappeared in the boardroom and entered the office, swearing as I remembered that Lucien was no longer there. Unless the guards had removed his corpse, he was in the library and I had no idea where that was. And then I realised I didn't need to know.
Seconds later I was a snow-white alsatian with black leathery wings and a bat in my hair.
"Ki'Pri," I said in a close approximation of Malnemar's voice, "Take me to the library." Fortunately Warp-Aci tend to be pretty stupid.
Inside the library I moved hastily to where the fallen Angel lay. Placing the cup to his dead lips, I intoned a spell which I had learned during my second stint as a student at SAIA. I had mastered it too late for Azrael, but perhaps it was not too late for Lucien.
The dead Angel coughed and his eyes came into focus. There was a strange glow about them. When he saw me he gave a scream of terror.
"Please, Holy Father..." he begged, "don't kill..." His voice trailed off as I reverted to my base form.
"I'll explain later," I said urgently. "For now, pretend you're dead again."
"Dead... again?" he said uncomprehendingly.
"You're undead. I'm sorry, but it was the best I could do. Malnemar was going to eat your soul, but if he thinks you're dead, your corpse is the last place he'll think to look for it. Like I said, I'll explain later. Now lie down and stop breathing at once!"
"You're not Mally," said a small voice behind me.
"Piss off," I told it. "Go away. Go back to Malnemar."
The little creature's eyes narrowed and it began to quiver. I ducked just as it lashed out at me. I had never seen a Warp-Aci get angry before, but since their tails could slice through anything, I quickly realised that this was distinctly not good.
I was still holding the cup when Paladin reappeared. He had a Warp-Aci too, which quickly broke away and took on Ki'Pri in one of the strangest fights I have ever witnessed.
Paladin turned back to face me, but noticed a movement behind him. Spinning around he saw two figures whom I guessed were Malnemar and Petter. It seemed that Mal, figuring I must have had impersonated him had decided to impersonate me instead, and Petter had done the same. The armoured wolf glanced between the three of us with a look of rising frustration at the three Jakobs.
"One of ye is Johan Cross," he barked, "and if ye confess it and surrender, I shall take it into account in my statement."
"I am," we said, almost but not quite in unison. Paladin was about to lose it completely when there was a shriek of rage and Ki'Pri vanished in retreat, Paladin's Warp-Aci floating down to hover near him with a smug expression on its face.
That was just the distraction Malnemar needed, and he lunged at me, knocking the cup from my hands, sending it sailing across the library and wrestling me to the floor yet again. Of course, this time he had Paladin and Petter to contend with as well, but nonetheless he put up an incredible struggle, finally managing to slip free amid the chaos. Meanwhile, Paladin and Petter had lost track of which grey wolf incubus was which and managed to get me into an armlock, the former placing a suppressor charm around my neck to prevent me from shapeshifting.
"Stop him," I cried in despair, causing Petter to glance at the fleeing figure. At this point he let out a foul oath as Malnemar reverted to base form. Groping beneath a desk with his hands and tentacles, the alsatian felt for the lost chalice, cackling with malicious glee as he did so.
"Soon I shall crush you all like bugs," he sang to himself. Paladin released me and stood up.
The brown wolf's stern expression gave way to horror as the thought struck him that Malnemar was Johan Cross and that the shadowy incubus whose name was still reviled for miles around Ha'Khunn would soon transcend in some terrible ritual a few sandwiches short of apotheosis.
With the precious cup finally in his eager hands, Malnemar placed the chalice to his lips. He made as if to drink it, but then suddenly dropped it as though he had burned himself.
"Empty!" he screamed, his anger terrible to behold. "You ate his soul yourself!"
Brimming with an incredible rage, Malnemar charged at me with murder on his mind or indeed, worse, for he no doubt intended to use my soul to fulfill his dark ambitions. I braced myself for the onslaught, but the armoured form of Paladin leapt to intercept him. After all, he'd be brought here to arrest me for Lucien's murder and he couldn't do that if I was dead.
Denied his true target, Malnemar screamed obscenities at the huge wolf and tried to beat him off. Still screaming, he formed a fist with his tentacles and attempted to push the lieutenant out of his path.
As he did so, Paladin's wings shot out - a spectacle completely ignored by the two guards that had silently entered the room to help make the arrest.
"Did ye really think I'd bring Beings to capture Johan Cross?" he sneered. "Say hello to second squad, first platoon, A company of the Royal Guards' Commandos!" With this, his troopers unfurled their wings and shifted forms to reveal armour and weapons like those of the lieutenant.
Growling, Malnemar came on, desperate to close on me. Using his own wings to block the attack, Paladin buried his right fist in the other's gut, lifting him from the floor, sliding him on his back, and finally into the wall.
Shaking his head in anger the Alsatian incubus bared his teeth. "You first... then him!" he snarled, pointing at Paladin and myself in turn. Wing tentacles sharp and pointed, Mal shot at Pal striking at the other incubus. The few hits that made it through did not even mark the armour of the commando.
Smiling, Pal launched his counterattack, another fist - this time his left - arcing in and smashing the arm Mal had put up to block it into his own forehead. Giving no respite to his foe, he jabbed again and again each hit breaking though Mal's defense until he fell back out of reach. Malnemar was good at many things but combat, it seemed, was not among them.
"Is that all ye got, boy?" said Pal, making a sort of "tsch" noise. "Even one of my rookies have more fight in 'em!"
Malnemar was sure that Pal was toying with him, so incensed, he flew at the wolf with no defense.
Accepting the hits, Paladin stepped in close and kneed Mal in the groin. Groaning in pain Malnemar bent over and tried to catch his breath, opening his eyes he was just in time to see the armoured gauntlet arc up and connect with his jaw.
The limp body connected with the wall for a second time, and slid to the floor in a heap.
"Jakob Pettersohn," said Paladin, as the unconscious dog was carried away by his men, "I must arrest ye on suspicion of the soul-murder of Lucien Small."
"Are you sure?" I asked, and turned to face the Angel, who was still lying propped against the wall.
"Arise and walk, my son!" I called. He did.