Part 6
Domremy was a sleepy little village on the outskirts of the Vosges Forest. Its main claim to fame was the church dedicated to its saint, Joan. Just across the little bridge fording a stream, was a shrine to that saint: a bust on a pedestal, nestled close beneath a tree, the once white marble stained now with rain and age. Nicholai and Karin paused at the bridge, surveying the landscape – forest, a plot of farmland just to their left, and to the right, small ramshackle houses with barns, and at the end of the street, the village well. The houses were not empty but no one was about except her soldiers and that incessant wolf howling in the woods. Nicholai had noticed it earlier and stopped, frowning for a moment before continuing on.
Soldiers of Sergeant Kemler's platoon were lined two by two up the central street, and one by the well, keeping watch. A small crossroads beyond the well split the street in two, part going to the church ahead and part leading to… The hill outside the church and down into a nearby meadow was full of grave trees. Nearly fifty crosses were stretched across the field, some wearing Wilhelm's helmets, some only a rifle stock leaning against it. These were her men, the men under her command, the men whom this demon had killed. Standing at the foot of the hill and looking up at the church surrounded by graves, Karin felt a chill inside and wondered where the warmth had gone, where her image of the sad and lonely man had fled.
Into the dark with the dead, she thought. It's all for the best.
"Don't worry, Karin. I've made the necessary preparations as I mentioned. Are you ready?" Nicholai stood beside her, and Sergeant Kemler and a handful of men behind. Karin nodded once and gestured to the patrol that had followed her into Domremy.
"Split up and surround the church," she commanded and her men moved ahead, rifles ready, while Sergeant Kemler and two others stayed with her, escorting them to the church. They climbed the hill in silence, Karin refusing to count the graves and Nicholai frowning deeply.
Soon, he thought. Soon now, Demon of Domremy.
The doors of the church were large slabs of wood reinforced with iron bosses and bars, heavy and weathered. Nicholai pushed them open with effort and led the way into the church proper. It was an old church, more a chapel, with one central isle leading to the altar below what should have been a Rose window. The glass of the window was shattered, leaves and dirt stained the runner going up the isle and water stained the altar. But someone had been there, for the glass shards were gone, and the stone masonry swept away from the earlier attack of Koenig's men. He stood aside and let her enter before closing the doors on the sergeant and entering slowly, carefully.
Almost instantly, there were gunshots and screams of terror and pain as the remaining soldiers were assaulted by something outside. Karin gasped, turned toward the doors again, but Nicholai grabbed her arm, staying her.
"Stop," he said. "It's dangerous to leave just now."
"Why? My men," Karin exclaimed puzzled.
Nicholai did not reply at first, dragging her a few more paces into the church, pausing half way to the altar.
"He has come," he stated, letting her loose and standing with hands on hips. He looked up to the ceiling, the broken Rose window outlined by the grey clouds overhead. Suddenly a black figure loomed in the window – with huge wings outstretched, it leapt in, landing with a ground-shaking thud onto the stone floor before the altar. It stood well above Nicholai's head as it rose from the floor and Nicholai showed no fear, rather he was feeling excited, anticipating, at long last, his victory. Stepping forward he accosted the monster.
"Show your true self, Demon of Domremy," he commanded, and Karin looked from Nicholai to the terrifying demon. It was the same one who had saved her life from the grenade that day – glowing purple eyes, iron like skin and wings that spread behind him – ragged now, showing signs of wear and injury. Karin found her hand reaching up to the Iron Cross around her throat, her heart beating hard in her chest and holding her breath.
What does he mean... true self, she wondered and then gasped, stepping back and covering her eyes as the monster began to change. There was a light from within the monster and its form blurred, receding, changing and then suddenly, the man was standing there – the same man she'd seen before: young, handsome and with sadness in his eyes.
Nicholai watched as the monster without became the monster within and his lips curled in a half smile. This was his enemy; this was what brought him to France, and this he would destroy. He felt in his inner coat lining the wand removed from the tower, and he put a hand to his sword, as the human appeared, cocky and self-assured.
"I've wanted to meet you, Godslayer," Nicholai said and his words dripped with venom. The young man before him put one hand on his belted hip and tilted his head in obvious confusion.
"All those dead soldiers outside... Are you the one that killed them?" he asked and Karin gasped again, turning horrified eyes to the windows. She could not see clearly but there was no movement beyond the glass. She turned back to the man, the monster with the voice like warm chocolate, and waited.
Nicholai nodded, gesturing with one hand toward the windows. "That's right," he said, and his tone was casual, relaxed. "You see, I don't want any witnesses to what's about to happen here." And he wondered for a brief moment if that would include Karin, but then corrected himself. No, no of course not. She likes me; trusts me. She can see he's a monster; she can see the evil of him. And she'll know shortly, who is the better man.
The young man dressed in black, lifted his head and stared at Nicholai with amber eyes.
"Give me the girl," he said and his words were like a private conversation between himself and Nicholai. Karin looked from one to the other, confused.
"What's going on?" she asked, but was ignored.
"Come and take her, if you can," Nicholai replied instead to the man before him, and drew out his sword and leapt at the lone figure standing before the altar. In the next instant, Karin was surprised to see Nicholai flat on his back across the church floor, the young man lowering one leg.
Did he just... kick Nicholai? she wondered, and then before she could approach to help Nicholai the priest rose to his feet, sword in hand.
"You..."
"Give me Jeanne," the chocolate voiced man said and Karin's confusion grew.
Jeanne? She reached out to touch Nicholai's arm, he pushed her away, back toward a pillar, and she fell hard, landing on the cold stone floor.
"Lenny!" he shouted and waited for the sound of the church door opening again. "You're late."
From the shadows at the back of the church stepped a giant of a man; dark skinned, dressed in metal and leather with a fur collar. His head was bald and his face was mean, with a snarl on his full lips, and in his arms, was a small child, a local peasant girl. Karin suddenly felt fear replace the confusion.
The big man laughed, hefting the child up with one armored arm and putting a huge knife to her throat.
"Relax," he said and his voice grated like gravel. "I had a stubborn sergeant to deal with."
Karin felt a tightness in her chest - the shouts before, the shooting – this man had attacked her men, this man had killed her soldiers! Behind her at the altar, the young man stepped forward, fists clenched and the huge thug put the knife to the child's neck, running it carefully over the soft flesh exposed beneath her short-cropped hair. A small line of red welled up.
"Stop right there. One dumb move and the girl here dies," the thug threatened. The young man did stop, but not from fear. He looked at Lenny with confidence in his stance.
"Go ahead – then you'll die next," he replied and the voice of chocolate suddenly grew very hard.
"I wouldn't expect any less. That's what makes my long search for you worthwhile," Nicholai said, stepping between Lenny and the man in black. He gestured at the young man, pointing at him accusingly. Puzzlement washed over the clean features of the young fighter and he turned, looking at Nicholai.
"You've been looking for me?" he asked.
Nicholai felt it now, looking at this young man, this half-blooded Japanese who had interfered with his plans. He wanted to flaunt his knowledge to this bastard standing in front of him, shame him, condemn him and then, kill him. It all came down to this one moment. Standing in front of him, Nicholai's voice rose in confidence, his tones ringing like a sermon from the pulpit.
"I was ordered by the Lord, to destroy a certain... traitor," he said and took a few small paces in front of his enemy. "A man who brought God down from the heavens, and tried to lay waste to the world." The man in black sighed, as if this were not news to him and Nicholai continued his pacing in front of him, back and forth.
"But before I could, a man with the power of a demon defeated that traitor, and the god he had brought down from heaven with him. Yes, it was you who did it," and again Nicholai paused, hand raised in accusation against the man in front of him.
On the floor behind him, Karin gasped quietly, climbing to one knee. Something was wrong here; was this the man she'd traveled to Italy with? Was this the man she'd shared a rainy night with, and traded hot kisses with, just this morning? It didn't seem like the same man at all. He was hard, driven, even obsessed.
"I am glad to finally meet you," Nicholai continued ignoring all others in the church. "The man who stole my prey from me. But before you grow into a problem for me, like that traitor Albert Simon, I'll root you out like the weed you are."
The man in black put a hand to his hip, puzzled confusion replacing his cockiness of a minute before.
"Who are you guys?" he asked and Karin wondered the same thing.
"We are Sapientes Gladio," Nicholai replied, his arms raised as if in prayer. Now he would know, he thought. Now he would understand what he's facing, and whom. "We alone posses the light of new hope to guide us through the 20th century."
Nicholai's nemesis did not cooperate.
"Never heard of you," he said as if that were the end of the matter. With a sigh and a shake of the head, Nicholai continued.
"That's fine. Once we destroy you, Godslayer, the world will know our name. Your life will be our ticket to renown." He had moved closer while he spoke and pulled out the wand from his coat. It lay, a holy relic in his open hand, his weapon against the evil that was the Godslayer, and he relished this moment before lifting the wand up like a dagger.
"And your soul will be brought back into God's grace by the power of the Holy Mistletoe!"
Karin rose to her feet beside the column, pulling her pistol from its holster.
"Nicholai!" she shouted and cocked the weapon, pointing it at the golden exorcist, the man whose arms had held her in love this morning and who now had killed her men and threatened a child. In the nave, Lenny moved, showing his knife at the girl's throat.
"Hey there! She changin' sides on us?" he shouted and Nicholai shook his head, lowering the wand but still facing his enemy. So, she's not going to side with me after all, he thought. The fire he had felt burning in him when they traveled, the roaring flame that had warmed him when they kissed, and the spicy taste of her in his mouth, faded to become cold like the nights in Russia. Very well then.
"She's nothing to us," he said into the silence. "She's merely a tour guide. She'll die here along with the others," and his words fell like ice into the quiet church. Karin moved closer to the altar and away from Lenny, her gun aimed at Nicholai.
"Who are you, really," she asked looking from Lenny to Nicholai and back.
Nicholai shrugged. "It doesn't matter," he said, not looking at her. "Thanks for bringing us here," and his voice softened at the words, an almost hint of regret in his tone. "You might have made a fine ally," and so much more; "it's really quite sad."
"Let that girl go... or else," Karin said and she pulled her iron resolve from deep within. This was not the time to think of what she might have had with this man. This was not a time for thinking at all, it seemed. But she had made a choice.
"Yeah? Or else what? You gonna shoot her too, eh?" the thug in spikes laughed but suddenly he found himself distracted as the little peasant girl awoke and began struggling to free herself from his grip. "Brat!"
The next moment exploded as several things happened at once. Karin glanced back and saw the child struggling to escape and the big man, Lenny, plunging his knife toward her unprotected body. She turned away from Nicholai, her pistol raised, and fired at the big man. The bullet struck the armor plate of his shoulder and pinged off, but he dropped the girl. Karin turned back then toward the front of the church and was surprised to see Nicholai, Mistletoe wand raised, approaching her at a run. Suddenly the man in black was in front of her and between them. He moved so fast he was a blur and Nicholai was again across the church floor on his back, but the man was bent down, huddled as if in pain. What happened? she wondered.
She reached out for him, to help him but he suddenly rose to his feet, his hands brought to his chest and Karin could see the relic; it had pierced his chest, struck through the heart, and it glowed with an unearthly light. Across the floor, Nicholai sat up, saw his handiwork, and laughed softly. Yes, he'd lost the woman for now, but had killed his enemy.
"I've won," he said softly. "I've beaten you."
Karin watched in horror as the glow of the relic encircled the man Nicholai had called Godslayer, the man who had just saved her from being attacked. If he were evil as Nicholai had said – but this was the demon who had kept her army from taking this town, this was the creature who had slaughtered her soldiers, their graves just outside this very church; and this was the man who had just protected her from being hurt or killed. This man – not a demon, not evil.
Suddenly the man before her cried out in pain, his arms thrown up in agony as his body arched backward, the light of the Holy Mistletoe encompassing everything – man, church, her own mind. Numb, she moved into the light to take him in her arms and drag him from the church, a pair of helping hands appearing as she left the nave.
Reviewers:
Sable! Welcome back. Yes, leaving you in the lurch for this chapter and a whole lot of other chapters. I am very glad you and the other reviewers, and even those who don't review, are enjoying this. I can tell you, I had no intention of ever writing such a piece until someone challenged me to it. Through this I have gained an appreciation for Karin and most definitely for Nicholai! Stay tuned for some fun with this pair.
Raven – you flatter me blush I'm glad you enjoyed it. Trust me on this, there will be some hot action later on. And some interesting views of the characters. This story is written from only 2 points of view: Karin's and Nicholai's. So it's got it's limitations. But hopefully you'll be back for more.