Accidental Surrogate

Accidental Surrogate Chapter 348-I give our troops outside of the sewer updates on our movements, letting them know when we take left and right turns, all the time following Roger, who steadily pads along, tracing the priest’s scent. The troops outside relay the information back to my father, in the bunker, who is able to trace our movement on the maps so that he, at least, knows precisely where we are at all times.

About half an hour later, Roger looks over his shoulder at me, his eyes suddenly fierce and I nod, understanding his message. We’re close very close now.

I raise a hand above my shoulder, making the signal that tells my troops to be on alert, ready for action. Behind me, I can almost feel their bodies tensing, becoming ready to react.

As a group, we continue to prowl through the sewers, making as little noise as we can. Roger turns a corner and I am just on his tail, looking around, when suddenly I see light again – bright golden light, a significant contrast to the grey mossy sewer around us. We pause for a moment and listen, hearing – god, what is that?

Some kind of clanging rings from an open door on the left almost exactly like the one we just left. Roger was right the priest needed to set up shop – again. A clanging comes from inside the room, hitting an unnatural pitch that hurts my ears – I see Roger visibly wince and move toward him, but suddenly quite suddenly –

A figure emerges from the room – And, as one, Roger and I act.

Roger is in the air almost instantly, a snarl ripping from his throat as he leaps for the priest. I shout a command for our troops to surround, to contain

The priest’s face is shocked, stunned as he spins towards us, as Roger’s body collides with his, Roger’s paws slamming into his shoulders and knocking the priest hard to the floor, holding him down in the slushy grey water –

I’m moving towards them, a shout on my lips, seeking to get behind the Priest to block the obvious direction of his exit should he seek to run – and as I move past him I see the moment his face changes from surprise and fear to fury, to menace, to a gleeful kind of hate.

action, as Roger lowers his snarling face to the priests, warning him with body if not with words

up, pointed towards Roger’s chest, and then he says some archaic

before I hear a yelp of fear and pain. And as I snap my face back towards the priest I see Roger soaring upwards through the air, his back and shoulders slamming into the low sewer ceiling before

priest is fast

back down on top of him the priest has twisted to the side and turns, predictably,

priest freezes when he sees me there, waiting for him, a slow and terrible grin spreading across my face as I focus my attention on him, resisting the horrible

I growl as I focus on the priest’s face, recognizing him instantly as the man we captured before –

bigger, and have no reason to shift my position before he tries to get past me, which he does next. But as the priest goes right, seeking to slip by me and make a run for it, I grab his left

the priest growls another one of those arcane words and I feel a pulse of burning heat coming from his left hand, his wrist suddenly becoming white hot- way too hot for me to hold, lest my skin

around, pushing him hard towards the door emitting the yellow light instead of the long corridor – if we can get him in there, we

few steps and then stops himself by grabbing the door frame. He sends a frantic glance over his shoulder towards

I roar to my troops, who have been waiting, tense, for precisely that order. And they do – quickly, my men spread out around the door, ready to trap him in. As they

sniffing, smelling something strange, and as I lay my hand on his fur he looks up at me and I see that under his chin – his chest –

bend to look at him, but he snaps his teeth at me – clearly communicating to leave it,

say, making the quick decision to allow him to decide his

sentence, screams erupt from inside the room and Roger