Chapter 11
"Do you believe her story, Lord?"
Imperius snorted at his lieutenant's question. "No but there is something wrong with her alongside the delusion she holds. I shall figure out what that-"
"Lord Imperius!"
One of the guards he had posted to keep the nephalem confined arrived in a flash of light.
"The nephalem! Someone has gotten in! The seal has been broken!"
Imperius didn't need to hear any-more. He instantly teleported away, leaving the other angels behind.
He found himself face to face with the ornate door behind which should have been the girl.
The guard was right he mused while running a gauntleted hand over the cold metal, attempting to find the archaic seal that had been there but now was gone.
In a fit of temper, he shoved open the doors so hard that they left dents in the inner walls.
He stepped in to find the girl being embraced by another nephalem, a male almost as tall as he was with thick shaggy red hair and a matching beard.
The man spotted him. He moved his firm hands on to Sorcha's shoulders and turned her around to see the archangel.
"Sorcha, get ready to leave," he mumbled to her.
"Its... its been fun but I gotta go," Sorcha quickly said to Imperius. She gestured behind her to the other man while she put herself between them. "My father is here to take me home. You take care now. And you should let-"
Imperius, in his haste to confront the man, shoved Sorcha aside a little to hard. He vaguely heard her hit the floor with a loud "oof" as he advanced, Solarion in hand, on Oisi.
"How did you break through the seals? How did you even get in to the city without alerting the Host?!" he shouted.
Oisi moved quickly.
He tossed Solarion from Imperius's grip before, with one hand gesture, flung the angel backwards into the far wall.
Sorcha, who had gotten to her feet, rushed over to the injured angel.
"Father! You didn't have to do that!"
Oisi growled lowly with an angry stare fixed on the downed angel. "No one touches you like that ever. No one throws you aside like you are an inconvenience."
Sorcha sighed. "I know. He's... he's just an idiot, Father."
"You will find the worlds full of them and you should never allow them any leeway for their behaviour."
Imperius was slumped against the wall.
The force of the impact along with the scars that remained from the fight with Diablo had left him vulnerable, almost unable to move.
He was helpless to stop Sorcha prying off his helm and discarding it to the floor.
Sorcha placed a hand on the vague outline of his face and watched in fascination as he became real beneath her fingertips. Skin and hair edging over the light until he looked almost human.
"Well, at least you are handsome under the darkness," she mused while taking in the tightly cropped hair, the nose that had clearly been broken and the jagged scars that crossed his right cheek and brow.
Sorcha placed her free hand on his other cheek, taking a firm grip of the angel's head.
Imperius stared at her weakly, his faintly red eyes flickering wildly in his struggle to stay awake.
Sorcha rested her forehead on his and let her gifts flow from her like they begged her to. She let out a soft gasp as she finished the healing only half done when the archangel had grabbed her hand after the defeat of Diablo.
Imperius passed out with Sorcha almost following him into unconsciousness if not for Oisi's intervention.
Oisi grabbed her quickly, hoisted her into his arms and warped away.
Sorcha woke up to familiar woodland smells, the cracking snaps of a camp fire and the feel of her rough bed-roll beneath her.
Her eyes opened slightly as she shifted under the heavy blanket covering her. Oisi sat nearby while he stocked up the fire with sticks and dead branches.
"Awake then?" he asked good-humouredly without turning his head.
"Yeah. You let me sleep?"
"You were exhausted. I'll be cooking some food in another hour so you might as well make use of the time. There is a small stream just past that small copse and I have your bag with your own clothes."
Oisi grinned at her, finally tearing his gaze away from the fire.
"Here. I found this in the city before I reached you."
He flung a small glittering acorn at her. Sorcha held it carefully in her hands.
"Oh... Leah..." she breathed out.
"I also found the bag of shards I had given you too. I was hoping you might do a bit more with them than hand them over to your captors."
"Not like I had a choice, Father." Sorcha sank back on the bed roll and stared at the acorn that glinted in the fading light of sunset.
"Did you find the golem too?" she murmured.
"I got the crystal. With those two to sort out, it looks like you are going to be busy."
"Hmm. How did the reforging go?"
Oisi fell silent.
"That good then... Is that why you didn't come for me till now?"
"Let us leave that conversation till we arrive at the mountain. We will stay here for the night then make haste for there in the morning."
"Why not teleport?"
Oisi sighed. "I have told you why. Too much warping and we damage the fabric holding it all together. Anyway it is best we keep ourselves as human as possible. We would miss all the best views if we just skipped past everything too."
Sorcha stared up at the sky and the dark slowly chasing away the last rays of sunlight across it.
"Do you think he will follow after us?"
"Valor? Oh yes. But if we are lucky the thought of walking around with humans on Sanctuary will be enough to dissuade him."