When Erust was well enough to walk on his own the party packed up. The weather in this part of the world stayed cold year-round. It wasn't that they were in the cold season now but the fact was that the magic on the mountain was wearing off and storms were likely to form. For the last few weeks, the snow had been a common occurrence at the wrong time of the year.
So the trip was planned and executed. They followed Chester back down the path in their own cart with two well-rested Lloras pulling them. Chester has oxen to pull his load back so the trip was slower than it could have been.
When they pulled into town they found the same inn on the outskirts of town that they had stopped in before. The owner was pleased to see them and offered them a discount on two rooms. Ashra's eyes lit up a little at the thought of not having to share a room with Rennish. Rennish smiled at the thought of sleeping by himself again.
After a night's rest and a good hot meal, they all gathered around a table in the darkest corner of the dining area to plan. Finding the spot where the body was being held wasn't that hard. There were flyers posted everywhere. There were two just outside the door to the Inn, "See the spectacle. Take home a piece of God!"
They made a plan to travel in a group and wear the cloaks of disguise. They would approach from two different sides. Rennish would stand back a way out of sight while Erust and Ashra would distract the guards. The hope was they could pilfer the body and get rid of it before anything else happened. They weren't sure what would happen if the body stayed out in the open any longer.
The next morning they got up and agreed to walk into town. The body was by the harbor and the price of admission was 5 gold per person. It was highway robbery but most people wrote the price off as a bargain to have a piece of a god.
When they reached the harbor it looked like any other harbor. Dingy brown and black buildings fought back the moss and decay that came with being so close to saltwater. Everything smelled of brine and fish. The aroma was permeating everything. They were certain they would smell like this after a few hours standing in the fetid breeze.
Erust led Ashra into the line for the building that was supposed to have the god in it. The line was several people deep but not as crowded as they thought it might be. That made their job harder and easier at the same time.
Having a crowd would have made distracting guards way easier. This meant a quick rework of the plan on the fly as they stood in line. They needed to see whatever was inside and who was guarding it. They had hoped it would be outside so they could see more of the guards before they got in line.
Rennish was standing against a wall. He was scanning the crowd and watching his partners. They were wearing their cloaks, they looked just like everyone else. It wasn't that anyone knew them here, but the pirates that were after them were the ones organizing this whole mess. And anything they could do to prevent violence was a good idea.
Rennish was focused on the crowd when he felt a hand something cold on his neck and an arm slither around his waist. "I should just kill you now for being so incompetent."
Rennish normally tried to escape any situation like this when possible. However, he was at a disadvantage here. He had no idea who was behind him other than they were about his height and obviously armed.
"You know, I normally prefer a pint before I cuddle someone new." Rennish tried humor to defuse the situation.
The blade bit into his skin a bit and the burn of a fresh wound hit his brain. He wanted to swallow but he also wanted to keep this windpipe intact. "I take that as a no then?" He said weakly. "I can't offer you some gold in exchange for my life?"
The person behind him chuckled for a moment and then moved around. Rennish dared take a peek and saw the arms were not that of any normal man. This was an assassin, a woman, or both. The last option piqued his interest for just a moment before his survival instinct over-rode his libido.
He was pulled behind the wall slowly and when he and his attacker were firmly out of sight he was released. His first instinct was to run but the knife was still too close to his throat.
The attacker was skinny, and tall thought Rennish. They wore the same oversized stuffed woolen clothes that the other dockworkers wore. The layer of air in the wool kept them warm and dry. But after a few days in the salt spray, it all smelled of fish.
"Do you think simply hanging around here will get that corpse?" The assassin said at a volume just below your normal conversation.
"Well, we weren't left with much time. It was kind of a do or dead man sort of event. And it was safer if fewer people knew we here in town." Rennish said, trying to match the hushed volume. "Why are we talking so low?"
The attacker relaxed the blade arm and tucked it into its sheath in the small of their back. Shaking its head the attacker sighed. "You are certain you are wanted that badly?"
Rennish nodded, "They chased us up a divine damned mountain. They took the corpse instead. It needs to be consecrated, burned, spread, and blessed. The world can't handle having a divine corpse just laying around. Do you want to have cults? That's how you get cults."
The assassin suddenly started to laugh, "Of course we don't want cults. That's absolutely what we must not have." Sarcasm at the oversimplification dripped through the reply. It wasn't missed by Rennish either.
"So are you going to help steal it back or just stand here and keep me from my armed robbery?" Rennish tilted his head back in the direction of the warehouse. He was about 90% sure this assassin was sent by the divines who were watching and waiting. He knew they were here. He could sense divine power, and not just the power from the corpse.
The assassin dropped its hood, it was a woman, but a scarf obscured the hair and face. If Rennish had a clean look at her he imagined she might be beautiful underneath. "Who do you work for?" Rennish decided to push his luck.
"Does it matter, as long as we get the corpse?" She said pushing back around to face the warehouse.
"Sort of. If you plan on doing something nefarious with it. Then yes. It matters very damn much."
His only reply was a derisive snort from behind him. This man was everything she had been told he was. Cocksure, arrogant, and rude. In a way, it was nice to finally face someone who was so true to themself when faced with her blade. Most men made a lewd comment or begged for their life while pissing their pants. This man almost seemed ready to die as long as he did it on his terms.
"I am here to collect something that doesn't belong to them. That is all you need to know." She shook her head.
Rennish nodded. That meant Golliad was interfering. The fact that it wasn't Ysennia meant that she didn't care or that she planned it this way. Golliad wasn't totally trustworthy but he kept his motives out in the open, mostly.
Finally, Erust and Ashra made it to the door. They stopped to barter with the door guard for 8 gold coins instead of 5. They figured if foot traffic was slowing down, they would be open to paying less. And seeing as how they intended to steal the body meant they robbed the men of a little something else.
A short fat man entered the building from the side door, Rennish noted the position of the door in case it was needed for escape.
Erust and Ashra paid the guards and walked inside. The warehouse was worse than being inside. It was lit by small glowing fires, and the smell of the corpse was unique. Normally dead things smell rotten, like bad eggs or old meat. This smelled, putrid, like sulfur and brimstone. The cause of this was the fact that the soul was stuck with Hadres and part of it was transferring over to the body. No one knew this but they knew it was getting rank, even if it wasn't turning colors or rotting.
"Come and see. The body of a god, No matter what we do to it, it won't rot or decay!" A man was hawking the corpse. Only a few people were standing around it. A man was selling trinkets made from the dead flesh. Bottles with fingertips and other odds and ends littered the table. A small purse made from might have been the testicles had an outrageous price tag on it.
Erust sighed. This is what happens when you get opportunists. They worked their way to the front and looked at the body. It was absolutely still alive. The heart had been removed and was sitting nailed to a pine board. It wasn't beating often, but every few minutes it would twitch. The head had been skinned and chunks were missing. The teeth had been pulled. It was a grotesque sight.
Ashra reached over and grabbed Erust arm and squeezed it. She was horrified at what she was seeing. In the corner, a fat man was cooking a piece of thigh meat in a greasy cast iron plate. Felgar was here, anywhere he could absorb Divine power he would show up. He was in the area hiding from the dwarves when this showed up. It was a stroke of luck on his part.
Ashra tugged Erust back from the corpse and stood on tiptoes to get towards his ear. "What now?"
Erust sighed, "I have an idea but it's gruesome."
Ashra sighed, "Worse than this?"
Erust nodded, "Maybe. Depends on what happens."
Ashra shook her head and fought back the urge to vomit. "Do it." her simple reply told him that she was desperate to get this over with. Erust navigated his hand out of his cloak and walked to the corpse. A smiling pirate walked over and saw him reaching out. He assumed he was going to take a bit to eat. He passed Erust a rusty knife to use and pointed towards the hips. "Lots of good meat left their boy."
Erust nodded and smiled. He put the blade in his hand and got his other arm out of the cloak. He put one hand on the body and brought the blade down on the flesh. He mimicked making a cut and then fed a small amount of divine power back into the corpse.
It didn't take much for him to feel the corpse start to shake. Ed fed mana into and created wind inside the lungs.
The plan worked. With the mana feeding the lungs a steady stream of air, the body began to scream. The divine magic started to bring the remaining flesh back to life. The parts on the table started to spasm and rattle inside the bottles.
The heart started to beat furiously. The pirates immediately shoved everyone away. Felgar was delighted. This meant the got was alive in his mind. The divine power would be fresher. He stopped cooking and started to eat furiously.
Ashra held back the urge to retch. This wasn't what she had imagined. It was a distraction but it was a horrible abuse of the dead. Erust got back to her as quickly as he could. "This will wear off in a few minutes. Let's get out of here."
She nodded, She wanted out, she wanted out 5 minutes ago, she wanted out the minute Erust walked up there. She looked at her husband and wondered. What kind of devious soul must he have been to come up with this on the fly.
Deep inside Erust was cursing himself for not thinking of something better. If this worked he was going to start praying or ask penance or something for this crime against the dead.