Chapter 24- Rituals and Possessions

The torrent of rain that had struck the city of Mortel had calmed by morning. By that time, Aingr had caught up on everything that Lumb and Deporah knew. Rituals, spirits, possession, the Hall of the Dead, the dungeons, and the King.

Lumb had ripped the crossbow bolt out of his shoulder and bandaged it up. Deporah found sewing supplies upstairs and used them to stitch up the wound on Aingr's side.

"You're lucky Barja didn't kill you," Deporah said as she finished the stitching.

"If it were Schwartz, I would've been dead. He would've known where to strike for a kill," Aingr replied, glancing at Schwartz's corpse lying in the corner of the house.

Aingr became furious, "Bastards! I had to kill two of my brothers because of them!"

"We've all lost a lot to those monks," Lumb added.

"There's a dungeon in between the castle and the Hall of the Dead where those monks are keeping all the kidnapped people. That's what you saw?"

"That's right," Deporah answered.

"Apparently, they're leaving the same marks on them as Horace did on me."

"It wasn't really Horace though. Was it?" Aingr asked.

"No. It wasn't," Lumb answered, "So, do you believe us?"

Aingr nodded, "It explains so much. But the difficult part will be convincing everyone else."

"If they can see the dungeons, they'll understand," Deporah asserted.

"Even if we unveil those dungeons, no one is going to believe anything about spirits. They're just going to think the King and the Hall of the Dead are torturing innocents. But that will stop them..." Aingr leaned his head against the wall, "The King is a part of this... why?"

"Not sure yet," Deporah replied.

Aingr thought to himself for a moment about King Whedon... His strange and dismissive behavior over the last few years since his father died. Then an epiphany struck.

".... It's Denile."

"What?"

"King Whedon is being possessed by King Denile!" Aingr declared, "Ever since the previous King's death, Whedon has been different. Very much like his father in many ways. It would explain why dungeons were built between the Hall of the Dead and the Castle. He allowed them to build a dungeon there in secret, and he gets to have tributes so his spirit can live on."

"But Denile seemed like a decent king," Lumb pointed out.

"Not at the end. When he knew the end of his life was nearing, he became consumed with survival. He became a foul man who cared only for himself."

Deporah nodded, "They mentioned Denile when I was in the dungeons. I didn't understand why at first, but now it makes sense."

"We can't let Denile's spirit escape then. If it does, they could keep going on," Lumb said.

"What're you thinking?"

"Whedon has to die before Denile has a chance to jump to another body. Otherwise, he'll escape."

Aingr glanced at Schwartz's body, "But he might be innocent. Just like Schwartz and Horace. Like Urba too."

Lumb began to pace about the house, "We can't worry about that. We need to stop this."

Deporah shook her head, "I agree with Aingr. If there's a way to save Whedon while stopping Denile, we should."

Aingr clenched his fist, "Damn it! If we expose the King and the Hall of the Dead, the royal family is bound to be targeted."

"Why? They're not a part of this."

"The public won't assume that. If we want them to be safe, we'll have to get them out of the city before the news spreads," Aingr explained.

Lumb shrugged, "Is that really a priority?"

Aingr glared at him before repeating, "We'll have to get them out of the city."

Ceptance hollered from the other room. Ever since the fight, she's been resting. Evidently, she had been listening in. "I think you're all getting ahead of yourselves. Before we can worry about any of that, you need to expose those dungeons, right? How will you do that?"

Aingr and the others were dumbfounded for a moment; all they needed was simple redirection. "Thank you, Ceptance."

"You're very welcome," Ceptance answered sleepily from the bedroom.

Aingr continued, "We need Commander Ein. I have influence within the Kingsguard, but without him, I don't think I'll be enough."

"Seems like a good idea."

"I'll have to see him. And you're going with me."

"That's-"

"-Risky, I know. But if you can bring him to the dungeons when asked, everything will be okay. Trust me."