Chapter 31

  The only thing that cooled Snow’s anger was the sight of this Max fellow tending to the hearth fire as Sage sat wrapped in her shawl. While Sage would never admit it, Snow knew she needed extra help when it came to domestic work.

  The inside of the little cottage was just as Snow remembered it. What Sage’s home lacked in ornaments it more than made up for in comforts. From the roaring hearth to the scent of pleasant herbs to the abundance of soft wool blankets, Sage kept only that which felt good to the senses. Snow took a moment to take in the perfumed air and warm his legs before Sage began to explain all that had happened a month ago, and why Max was here instead of one of her fellow priestesses.

  “When the vision came… I had a hard time believing it, but I knew the goddess did not lie,” she began with a sad sigh. Snow was sitting before her on a wooden stool and had just pulled off his boots. Lia continued to hide as a little bat under his collar while Max insisted on hovering about with a suspicious scowl. Snow ignored them both for the moment. He could see that something terrible had happened and dread was welling up inside him.

  The high priestess stared down at her hands for a moment. Snow knew that look. It was the dismayed look of someone staring down at a problem they never thought possible. Though she was small in stature, Snow had never seen Sage as diminutive or weak. The high priestess had always been a beacon of light and strength, but whatever had happened had shaken her foundations.

  “What happened?” Snow pushed gently.

  “The saviors,” Max spoke up with anger still in his voice. “They came for the temple.” He said it bluntly, but this new fury looked different than what he displayed to Snow earlier. There was a bitterness in his tone that wasn’t there before.

  “What did they do?” Snow asked, he turned back to Sage who had raised a hand against Max as if to say, let me explain it.

  “I was alone when they came. Of course, I sent the other priestesses away into hiding. I was standing at the entrance when the men approached. They said that we were a blight on this world, no better than the monsters they hunt – all because we serve the old ways. Apparently, they now deem all the old gods as a threat to their ‘High God’. … Kori, they burned the temple down.”

  Snow’s hands clenched and a log in the fire popped loudly.

  “They burned it?” It wasn’t really a question. He knew Sage wasn’t lying. He simply couldn’t believe it had come to this. “How many were there? How did you escape them?”

  “Max… he saved me. He convinced them that I was no harm since I’m blind.”

  Snow then turned to Max. The man was now standing with his arms crossed over his broad chest. He was not unlike Titus and the thought made him wonder how this man happened to have a silver sword and knew a vampire when he saw one.

  “Lucky he was there,” Snow said with an air of suspicion in his voice. To his surprise, Max immediately chomped down on the bait.

  “I didn’t know they meant to burn it! I’m from here… my wife served the goddess! Why the fuck would I-”

  Sage’s raised hand and stopped his tirade. Max huffed out an angry breath and went silent.

  “Max grew up here. I knew his wife. She and I were childhood friends,” Sage began, “Max and his wife had a homestead further to the east of the village, and it was out there that a vampire happened upon the house one night and killed my friend. Max, driven by grief, joined the saviors. He thought he would be saving others from that fate. But when his superiors sent him and some men back here… he realized the saviors had other intentions.”

  Snow understood now. The anger he heard earlier wasn’t directed solely at him.

  “They didn’t fucking tell me what we were doing here until we were marching up to the temple with bales of hay,” Max explained with vitriol still in his voice.

  “Max stopped them from burning me with it,” Sage added.

  Snow briefly glared at Max once more as the fire popped again, sending a bright spark onto the floor. Max squashed the ember with his foot before offering to fetch some food and water for all of them. Sage thanked him for offering and smiled gently as she followed the sound of him stepping through the room towards the kitchen. Snow waited for Max to pass into the kitchen before speaking again.

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  “Are the girls truly safe?” Snow asked.

  “For now, but the saviors are still here. They are trying to convince the Tins to pledge this village to their cause,” Sage replied sadly.

  “The longer they stay, the more trouble they’ll bring,” Snow replied

  “I know,” Sage nodded.

  Snow sighed and leaned closer. “Can you really trust him?”

  Sage nodded. “Yes. He is angry and wounded, but his heart is good. He has done all but renounce them officially. He fears doing it openly right now might put me at risk.”

  “Do they know he’s here… looking after you?” Snow whispered.

  Sage lowered her voice as well. “He says they do not… but they do.”

  Snow sat back.

  Sage had sight beyond her own ineffective green eyes. A gift from the goddess, or so they said when she was born. If she said it was so, then it was so, and that meant that the longer Max stayed here, the more curious his ex-compatriots might become. Max might try to spin some lie or outright leave their ranks, but either way, Snow felt there would be trouble for it.

  “Now,” Sage said a little louder as Max came back with a tray laden with cups and food, “let me see your new friend.”

  Snow looked down at his lapel. “Lia, you can shift back now,” he glanced up at Max briefly, “no one is going to harm you.” He lifted up his collar to reveal and pale colored bat huddling close. It looked out at the room briefly and eyed Max for a long moment before shifting in a swirl of shadow. In an instant, Lia was standing behind Snow, keeping his seated body between her and the ex-savior.

  “Lia,” Sage repeated the name with a smile and closed her eyes briefly. “Short for Livianna, yes?”

  Snow felt Lia’s hands come to his shoulders briefly as if to steady herself. “Yes, how did you know that?” she asked.

  “Sage has her own gifts,” Snow replied with a soft smile.

  The smile on Sage’s face soon faded and her brow knitted. “I’m so sorry for all you’ve endured, Lia.”

  Snow found Max’s sudden confusion amusing as the man tenderly placed a cup of water in Sage’s hand.

  “I didn’t even touch her,” he grumbled.

  “Not you,” Snow corrected.

  “No,” Sage agreed as her slender brow furrowed more, “She’s been tortured at the hands of the saviors.” Sage paused and clutched the cup tightly, “Max, did you know about the collars?”

  There was an awkward pause as Max hesitated to serve Snow. “… yes.” The answer sounded dragged out of him.

  Snow had a new glare for the man. “But burning temples is a step too far?”

  “Hey!” Max slapped the tray down on a small table hard enough for the bread to bounce. “The collars kept the monsters under our control! Vampires… werewolves… things that eat little kids in the middle of the night! The temple was completely different! My wife served the goddess! The priestesses serve the people here!”

  Sage raised her hand again and despite the new froth of anger, Max seemed to get a hold of himself albeit with clenched hands and a fierce glare. He turned it on Lia briefly before pacing away from the hearth as if his anger needed more room.

  “Not all monsters eat children in the middle of the night,” Snow added as his own anger started to rise.

  “And what the hell are you anyway?” Max stalked back a few steps.

  “Max,” Sage spoke up, “Korvinian is a resurrectionist and he’s my friend. While he might be a little chilly on the outside, he has a good heart… like yours.”

  Max scoffed, but he didn’t dispute it.

  Sage then spoke to Lia, “My dear, you are welcome to stay, but I need you to swear you will not prey on the villagers here.”

  “Of course, Miss Sage,” Lia replied.

  Max rolled his eyes.

  Sage turned her head a little towards where Max stood. “I saw that.”

  “She could be saying whatever you want to hear,” Max argued.

  “But I will know if she’s lying,” Sage replied.

  Snow’s exhaustion was starting to get the better of him. He wanted nothing more than to take one of Sage’s blankets and collapse on the floor by the fire that was quickly chasing the chill out of his limbs, but he couldn’t come this far carrying his own burning questions and have the patience to wait til morning.

  “Speaking of that… I have a few things I want to know.”

  Sage turned to him with open curiosity. “I can see that.”