Page 7 of Unholy

“It worked out in your favor this time, Paladin Morgan,but don’t disobey me again. I won’t be so lenient next time, no matter how many lives you save.”

An uneasy knot settled in his gut as he ducked his head and slipped from the room, turning those words over in his mind.

No matter how many lives he saved? Was obedience really the most important lesson to be learned from all of this? If he’d obeyed that last order, a little boy would be dead, and the demon would go on to kill more. Wasn’t disobedience for the greater good better than blind obedience at the cost of innocent people’s lives?

He wondered if Sloan’s new iron-fist mentality came from having lost Hawk to a demon. Ruling the guild like a dictator wasn’t the answer, though, and Luke would never obey if it meant watching people die.

He drifted out to the training yard for morning drills. Because he didn’t have a squad to train with, he usually trained with whoever was already out there. The training yard never had a shortage of paladins willing to spar, and today was no different. He fell in with a group who was already getting started, led by Captain Nicolas Garcia. They practiced offensive and defensive stances, did some light conditioning work, and then broke into pairs to spar.

All the while, his mind churned.

Sloan wanted him to kill Malachi if he saw him again. But without his intel, Luke wouldn’t have learned about the sagdrannon. Children would still be dying. If he saw Malachi again, his first instinct would be tothankhim, not run him through with his sword. Sure, he was a demon, but he helped him. Luke just wanted to know why. What was his angle? He’d approached Luke intentionally, waiting outside the warehouse where he’d been hunting. How long had hebeen there? How did he know how to find Luke? Had he been following him?

He had a thousand questions, and the only way to get answers was to ask. Which meant engaging the demon in conversation if he saw him again, not killing him. Which would be disobedience. Which was wrong.

Or was it?

Maybe he needed to confront Malachi. If he could uncover his motives, it would set his mind at ease. Should the halfling mean harm, he could deal with it and reassure Sloan that he’d dealt with the problem. If his reasons were benign, Luke could thank him and warn him away. He owed him that much, at least.

All he had to do was find him.

He showered in the locker room, had a quick lunch in the cafeteria, and then made his way down into the basement archives. The basement consisted of two levels, and nearly all the rooms housed old filing cabinets full of books, scrolls, and various kinds of parchment from the guild’s history. They’d been slowly scanning and uploading each document into the computer system, but because there was so much, it took time.

The first room at the base of the stairs was the lobby. Most people who came down here only needed a specific file, so they asked Etta. She’d been his English teacher at one time, but now she worked here. Her eclectic style decorated the room, with colorful artwork hanging on the painted brick walls and warmly lit lamps making up for the anemic fluorescent lights overhead. A plush rug covered the beige tile, and trinkets covered every surface. Some porcelain frogs sat beside her computer. A tiny gnome village thrived on the filing cabinet behind her. An e-reader with acase that looked like a leather-bound book was next to her keyboard.

She grinned when she saw him, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Well, if it isn’t Luke Morgan, paladin extraordinaire! I got an email a little while ago telling me to expect you. You forget to turn in your homework again, sugar?”

He chuckled. “No, I’m afraid not. Forgot to follow an order, more like. Intentionally.”

Her warm brown eyes widened behind her purple-framed glasses. “Really?Youdisobeyed an order?” She leaned in closer. “How bad are things getting up there?”

He sighed. “I’m not sure yet. I hope things level off soon, though. It’s been tense.”

“It has. I don’t see the worst of it, since I’m in a different quarter than the paladins, but I’ve been keeping you all in my prayers.”

“I appreciate that, Ms. Etta.”

“So you’re down here with me for two weeks, it looks like?” she asked, clicking something on her computer.

“Yes, ma’am. Just point me where you need me.”

“You can go to filing room fourteen. That’s on this level, just down the hall. There’s a scanner there. Just start with the first filing cabinet and make your way down. They’re all labeled.”

“What kind of documents are they?”

“Loose documents that paladins have gathered over the years. Rituals and spellcraft, mostly.”

“Spellcraft? Like magic spells?”

“Exactly,” Etta replied. “Using it is forbidden, of course, but the guild likes to have documentation of such things so they can recognize it when enemies use it. Magic of that kind is pretty rare these days, though, so they’re mostly justforgotten pieces of paper now. Who needs a tracking spell when our cell phones log our location twenty-four-seven, anyway?”

He snorted. “Right.”

She grabbed a clipboard and laid it before him. “Just sign in there and mark down the time. If you need anything, let me know.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He signed in, gave Etta a wave, and wandered down the hall to get started. Each room was closed and had a brass tag on the wall beside it with a number. When he found number fourteen, he let himself in.

The room was deeper than it was wide. Filing cabinets lined both walls, and there was another row in the middle with cabinets on either side. The scanner was tucked in the corner. It was actually a copier, scanner, and printer in one. With any luck, it was actually functional. Otherwise, he’d probably have to walk the files to another room to use a different machine.

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