The Damned Paladin-Chapter 129: Paid In Full

Gabriel moved.

His sword came in fast, a tight slash aimed at Castor’s ribs. Castor dodged backward, grabbed a metal basin from beside the bath and swung it like a club.

Gabriel ducked. The basin whistled past his head close enough to disturb his hair. Castor pressed forward immediately, using his power to force Gabriel onto the defensive.

A straight punch aimed at Gabriel’s face. He parried it with his forearm, felt the impact jar his bones. Castor’s follow-up came instantly, a kick toward Gabriel’s knee that would have shattered the joint if it connected.

Gabriel pivoted, letting the kick pass through empty air. He countered with a slash at Castor’s extended leg. The blade opened a line across Castor’s thigh.

Castor hissed but didn’t slow. His hand shot out, fingers closing around Gabriel’s throat before he could retreat.

The grip was iron. Castor squeezed, cutting off air, his face inches from Gabriel’s with an expression that was almost pitying.

"You were always weak," Castor said quietly. "Even with the executioner as a brother. Even with those demon eyes."

Gabriel couldn’t breathe. Black spots danced at the edges of his vision. His hands came up instinctively, trying to pry Castor’s fingers loose, but the grip was too strong.

Gabriel’s hand moved. Not to Castor’s fingers. To his own chest, to the fire that waited just beneath his skin.

He focused everything he had. Not on creating flames outside his body like he usually did. On creating them inside Castor’s chest cavity.

The fire erupted from Gabriel’s palm directly into Castor’s torso.

Castor’s scream was immediate and primal. His grip on Gabriel’s throat released as both hands flew to his chest, where smoke was beginning to curl from blackened flesh. He stumbled backwards, eyes wide with shock and agony.

Gabriel collapsed, coughing violently as air rushed back into his lungs. His throat felt crushed, each breath scraping raw.

Castor fell to his knees. His hands clutched at the wound where Gabriel’s palm had touched him, where the internal burns were catastrophic and irreparable. Blood bubbled from his lips when he tried to speak.

"What... what did you..."

Gabriel pushed himself up slowly. His ribs screamed where Castor had struck earlier. His throat ached. But he was standing, and Castor was dying.

He retrieved his sword from where it had fallen and walked to where Castor knelt in the spreading pool of water and blood.

"Please," Castor whispered. Blood ran down his chin. "I was... following orders..."

Gabriel raised his sword.

"Wait..."

Gabriel didn’t wait.

The blade came down clean and precise. Castor’s head separated from his shoulders and hit the wet stone with a sound like a dropped melon.

Gabriel stood there breathing hard. It was done.

The debt was paid.

He knelt and wrapped Castor’s head in a towel from the bench. The mage had demanded proof. He would give it to her.

Footsteps in the hallway. Running. Shouting. The guards had heard Castor’s screams.

Gabriel moved to the window and threw it open. The drop to the roof below was fifteen feet, manageable if he was careful. He climbed out and hung from the sill for a moment before letting go.

He landed hard. The impact sent pain shooting through his ribs but nothing broke. Behind him, the bathroom door crashed open followed by more shouting as guards found what remained of their commander.

Gabriel ran across the roof, found a drainpipe, slid down. Adan was already in the alley waiting, having extracted himself while Gabriel dealt with Castor.

"Time to go," Adan said simply.

They ran.

Behind them alarm bells rang. More shouting. The entire bathhouse mobilised as guards realised their commander was dead.

Gabriel and Adan rounded a corner and ducked into the market crowd, losing themselves among shoppers and merchants. After five minutes, the immediate pursuit faded into general confusion.

They slowed to a walk, just two more travellers among hundreds in Bridgedon’s streets.

"You get him?" Adan asked quietly.

Gabriel patted his pack where the towel-wrapped head sat heavy. "Yeah."

They navigated through streets carefully, avoiding patrols, keeping to crowds. The blue door appeared ahead after twenty minutes of careful movement.

Gabriel knocked once.

The mage opened it immediately, as if she’d been waiting by the door. "Inside. Quickly."

They entered, and she locked the door with three separate mechanisms, each click echoing in the cluttered shop.

"Well?" Her eyes were bright and hungry.

Gabriel pulled the towel-wrapped bundle from his pack and set it on her desk.

The mage unwrapped it slowly, almost reverently. Castor’s face stared up at her, eyes still open, expression frozen in his final moment of understanding.

The mage touched his cheek gently. "Hello, you bastard. Remember me? Remember my daughter?"

She spat on the head.

Then she looked at Gabriel. "It’s done. The debt is paid."

Gabriel felt something shift in his chest. Not painful, just absent. Like a weight he’d been carrying was suddenly gone. The binding was broken.

"Did he suffer?" the mage asked.

"Yes."

"Good." She wrapped the head back up carefully. "Now get out of my city. The Church will hunt whoever did this. I don’t want you here when they start asking questions."

Gabriel nodded. "The debt’s paid. We’re done."

"We are." The mage’s expression softened slightly.

Gabriel and Adan left through the back entrance. They collected their horses from the stable and rode out of Bridgedon through the south gate before the guards there received word to lock down the city.

They rode hard through the afternoon and into the evening, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the bathhouse. By nightfall, they were twenty miles south, making camp in a forest clearing far from any road. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

No fire. Cold rations were eaten in silence.

Adan finally spoke. "That was close."

"Too close." Gabriel touched his ribs where Castor had struck. Probably cracked, not broken. His throat ached with every breath. But healing had already begun.

"You think they’ll track us?"

"Maybe. Probably." Gabriel stared into the darkness between trees. "But we’ll be gone before they organise a real hunt."

They sat in silence for a while. The night was cold and clear, stars visible through gaps in the forest canopy.

"The girl," Adan said eventually. "The one he killed. You knew her?"

"No. But I knew people like her. Innocent people caught in the Church’s purges. People who died because someone in power wanted them dead and had the authority to make it happen."

"Same as Adaranthe?."

"Same as Adanranthe." Gabriel met Adan’s eyes across the darkness.

Adan didn’t argue.

They settled in for the night. Adan took first watch while Gabriel lay on his bedroll with his body aching and his throat raw.

But the debt was paid.