"Is this the friend who betrayed my son?" he asked. 

My heart sank at that question. It felt like I was standing at a volcano's crater, right before it explodes and destroys everything around it. I've heard of Stalwart's might, I've even been near a battlefield he decimated before. This time however, I was on the receiving end of his cold, ruthless anger. Something I didn't feel when I met him in the Fragment before.

"Answer my question, son," grandpa said, his voice, instead of being filled with grief or anger, was still calm, like the high seas before a storm. Lightning flashed above us once more, crimson and ominous looking. His eyes flashed red; or perhaps it was the lightning I saw reflected there. 

"Is this the friend you trusted, Myles?" 

He knew perfectly well who that was. What was he trying to achieve here, make me feel even guiltier? And what was Sam doing here anyway? It all felt unreal. I had the upper hand, but I had to trust her. I had to let my guard down for one second. I had to let her use me and discard me like that... To think I actually risked my life for her...

"Is he?" Grandpa asked once more. 

I nodded. 

What the f.u.c.k does he want from me anyway? Sam was still struggling under his strong grip. Mud splashed as he tried to move his head left or right, find an opening to breathe, but Stalwart wouldn't let him. 

"He's a feisty one," he went on, looking down on Sam as though an eagle scoffing at a prey's futile attempts to wiggle out of its claws. "I may keep him as a pet. I wonder how the Church would take it... They got the snake on their side after all...." 

He stood then, his claws still clutched around Sam's skull, looked ahead into the horizon. His calm, nonchalant demeanor changed. He seemed to frown at something I couldn't see or sense. Elsa was shaking from head to toe, just a few feet away from the road. 

"I wonder what took your friends so long," grandpa whispered to Sam. Sam's breathing had gotten ragged. He was writhing in pain, struggling as though a thousand spears had pierced him at once. I remembered what grandpa – the one I'd met in the Fragment –, had done to me. I could only sympathize, but part of me felt overjoyed to see that piece of s.h.i.+t suffer. I found myself fighting to suppress a vindictive smile.

I didn't realize what happened next until it was too late though...

At first, I heard an explosion far behind me. I turned to look at its source, only to see a white shadow fly past me. I felt strong arms wrap around my waste, crushed some of the bones as well. Then I started rotating. I didn't know which way was up or down. 

I felt more pressure against my waist, as thought someone, or something, smashed against the arms that were holding me. I heard a grunt then a heavy spluttering sound, as though a heavy body had hit the wet ground. Then the arms let go of me. 

I fell, bounced off the road then started rolling down the hill. When I finally managed to look up, I saw Sam lying unconscious on the ground, a few feet above me, while grandpa and a woman draped in ivory eyed each other from a close distance. 

"Despite your differences, I knew you'd still protect your grandson," the woman said. "Where's Sullivan, Stalwart?" 

Grandpa jumped back then let his shoulders drop. The woman was no apparent threat to him.

"Does the Bishop know you're here, Pontiff Nari?�� Grandpa asked. 

Pontiff... The last time one of them fought my grandfather, they destroyed a forest as big as Merinsk. If a fight broke between the two... 

Perhaps... 

What would be the odds of that? And without Beatrix to blind him? I tried to move. My waist hurt, but it wouldn't hinder my movements. Perhaps the Pontiff's presence was more a blessing than a curse...

"His Excellency's worried about Sullivan, I know you had something to do with his disappearance, Stalwart." I couldn't see the woman clearly, only her flowing hair as strong winds blew it away. I could, however, hear them clearly as the wind carried out their voices to me. Hers was filled with fury, shaky to some extent. 

They wouldn't hear me sneaking away. The wind would carry any noise I make away from them. Grandpa always loved theatrics, but he wasn't a fool. Even if he was facing a Pontiff of the Church, he'd still have his attention on me. 

"You, and by extension the organization you represent, are looking to start a fight," Grandpa said. "Now, if I killed your beloved Pontiff, you'd have reason to come after me. h.e.l.l, even the kings I fought so hard to protect would welcome the prospect of getting rid of me." 

Lightning flashed above us, crimson, dangerous. Something caught my attention then. Elsa was crawling behind some bushes on the other side of the road. It had been raining for a while now. The ground had grown slippery....

 No, I had to put the idea of running away to rest. I've been running from this man ever since I escaped the Crucible. I've been running from the Church long before that. Running, as far as conventional methods were concerned, was not an option. There was another way though. It was dangerous, could even be fatal, but what other choice did I have?

Pontiff Nari cast a quick glance toward me. Our eyes locked and I saw something as lightning flashed above us. Was it compa.s.sion? Or was it pity? She quickly averted her gaze though. She directed it toward Sam, who was still unconscious. She heaved a heavy sigh then her face hardened. She squared her shoulders then set her sights on my grandfather.

"Did you, or did you not kill him Stalwart? I'm not interested in your monologues. I only –"

"Oh but you should, Pontiff Nari. You see, Sullivan and I are old friends. He knew me and knew how to bring a fight, if it ever broke between us, to a standstill." Stalwart started walking toward the Pontiff, slowly, casually. I saw her flinch for a second, but she quickly regained her composure. Lightning bolts flashed above him, creating thin, sinewy streaks that landed a few inches from the Pontiff. Each time they struck the ground, they'd leave a small crater around them. Things were about to move quickly very soon. I had to get ready. 

"You, however," grandpa went on as he kept walking, "do not know me at all." 

"You asked if His Excellency knew about my presence here," Nari loudly said, trying to drown out the explosions caused by the lightning shower.

"Does he?" Grandpa asked. 

"He knows that you stole the empress' bones from under our nose. He knows that the witch had stabbed you in the back..." She paused for a while and cast a quick glance toward me. "He knows that she's now missing. You have nothing to gain from a war against us." 

Grandpa stopped right on his tracks. I saw the Pontiff's stiff shoulders relax. "What are you here for, Pontiff?" he asked. 

"The boy wasn't supposed to be here," she answered, jerking her head toward Sam. "We'll take him. You give us Sullivan, and we'll leave you to clean up your mess." 

Stalwart scoffed. "You come here, chest puffed and nose held up high, and you demand that I bow, kowtow, and give you that slimy worm that led to my son's death?"

 His voice, as calm as it was, sent chills down my spine. Cold rage, that's how I could explain the ominous feeling he was giving off. Lightning flashed above us, illuminating the sky and earth below, putting my grandpa's smirk into light. 

"You wave the flag of war above your head as though it was something your organization could afford." He resumed walking, steadily and casually toward the Pontiff. "Let me be clear, Pontiff Nari," Grandpa said once he got nose to nose with her. "You don't have the upper hand in this battle." 

"We have the witch," she said, returning his smirk. 

Grandpa scoffed. "I find that hard to believe," he said. 

"I'm giving you a way out here, Stalwart," the Pontiff said with clenched teeth. "Take it." 

My grandpa's smirk got even wider. "I don't appreciate this charade, Pontiff," he said. "And to think a Pontiff would come up with better ways to waste time...Why don't you check on the friends you brought along?" 

I saw the pontiff s.h.i.+fting in place, uncomfortable. 

"You can try to contact them all you want, they're dead." grandpa said. "Did you think I'd come here alone? You insult me, Nari Winters."

Her face, if I could see it, would have looked the same as mine, bleak. I didn't even know there were others around us, on either side. I had my senses stretched around me all the time. 

Lightning flashed above us once more. My grandfather's mocking smile had turned to a triumphant one. "Run back to your boss now. Tell him what happened here. Let him run his hounds loose." 

"The Bishop doesn't want to talk to you, Stalwart," Nari said. "It was Sullivan's idea, and I'm still honoring it, despite the Bishop's disapproval." 

"What is he to you?" he asked. "I know Sully. He never really liked your kind." 

"Sullivan's a dear friend," Nari said. "We've always looked out for each other." 

Lightning flashed and I saw my grandfather's steely eyes locked into Nari's. "Sullivan's always looked out for himself. You're delusional to think he'd ever regarded you as anything but a means to an end." 

"Where is he, Stalwart?" Nari asked. She was growing impatient, or nervous. I couldn't really tell. 

"He's dead," grandfather answered. "I asked him to pay me a visit a while ago. I had him killed then lit his body aflame. I stood there and watched him turn to ash." 

Nari began shaking from head to toe. 

"I know you're struggling to keep your composure right now, given what I've done to your beloved friend," grandpa went on. "I admire you for that, really. Or is it the hope that the Bishop would avenge Sully's death for you?" 

"Theolonius Stalwart," Nari said in a clear, ceremonial tone. "You have admitted to killing a Pontiff of the Church of Dhobor, which is a crime punishable by death." 

Grandpa snorted. 

Nari took a step further until she came nose to nose with my grandfather. She was a tall woman, slender under her flowing ivory robe. 

"You," she said with a coa.r.s.e voice, filled with grief and anger, "as well as your entire family shall know the wrath of Dhobor, and when we're done with you, the world will only remember you as one thing: a Tyrant. A Tyrant that the Church Of Dhobor helped put an end to. We'll be the heroes the singers sing about, and you'll be the forgotten tyrant the world is better off without." 

"I sincerely urge you to try," grandpa said with a wide, amiable smile. "The boy stays with me. I shall make him pay for what he'd done to my family. Now, if you wish to plan your attack, it's time you joined your boss back in the capital." 

Nari cast one last glance toward Sam. She didn't seem willing to leave him there, at his mercy. 

"Don't do this Stalwart. The people of Biarkh don't deserve this... Give us the boy. What you've done to Sully is bad enough... " she said. There was still grief in her tone, but there was something else. She was begging him to give her Sam. Was he this important to the Church?

"Leave," my grandfather urged her. 

"His Excellency won't be happy with the news I bring," Nari said with a clenched jaw. "You know what that boy possesses." 

"That isn't my burden to carry," Stalwart said. "Or would you rather I have you join Sully? I didn't think you'd give up so easily." 

"I don't get you!" she blurted out. "Sullivan loved you like a brother." 

"Well, there's nothing to get, Miss Winters," grandpa said. "I've only been looking out for my family. Sully was a friend, but he wasn't blood. The friend I always looked out for let my family die. Then he lied to my f.u.c.kING FACE!" 

Earth shook below us as the sky exploded with angry booms. Lightning flashed here and there. Fire caught on some trees then got quickly extinguished by the pouring rain. Nari stood her ground though. She looked my grandfather in the eyes, in those cold, angry eyes of his. 

"You invade my lands twice," he went on, but with a calmer demeanor. "You've always been after my head. You slaughtered my family and made a good show of it. Then, when questioned about it, you claimed it was the doing of a rogue priest. 

"You made me look weak, and now you draw me as the villain? I'm only defending myself Pontiff, and if you can't see that, I don't see why I should keep this discussion going. Now, if you please, go back. Report to the Bishop. Let him come to me, these old bones of mine are tired of politics, let's spill some blood."

"You're making a big mistake Stalwart," Nari said then walked away. 

"And Pontiff?" Grandfather called out to her before she vanished.

She turned around, curious. 

"Your head's mine!"