CHAPTER 60

"Evangeline Blackwood was the first daughter and third child of the Blackwood family. Her two older brothers, Nikolai and Marcus joined the Ever Victorious Army separately during the Degataga Campaign." Elizabeth read. "Nikolai acquitted himself admirably on the field. His belongings were returned posthumously, including the Blackwood Family blade. Marcus Blackwood enlisted in the Ever Victorious Army bearing the family arms and was heroic against the nefarious assault against the Nothwood Training facility. His belongings were returned posthumously, including the Blackwood family blade."

Elizabeth blinked. He'd died in an assault against his training camp. A terrible way to die. Training camps in Urdistan used blunted training swords and headless spears. Any personal arms were locked up until you could demonstrate adequate proficiency.

"Evangeline Blackwood served as an attachment to the Ever Victorious Army, and served with distinction through the remainder of the Degataga Campaign, and acquitted herself honorably and with great distinction in the Steliana Insurrection. She, alongside a detachment of Regulars (see conscription notes in Alanna Hierant's The Path of the Soldier), held the docks against the heretics, allowing valuable assets to be successfully extracted. No remains or belongings were retrieved." She finished, and made a note to look up the Steliana Insurrection, but she guessed that Evangeline joined the conscripts to hold the docks while the upper echelons escaped. Conscripts were the least prized members of the military, expendable assets. Likely they kicked the conscripts off the boats with the rest of the "regulars" and told them to hold the docks while the nobility sailed to safety.

Elizabeth took a breath, held it, and let it out. She'd carry Evangeline's blade for as long as she was worthy of it.

When she was done, an acolyte whisked away the books she had requested.

"I need to speak with an archivist that is intimately familiar with Ardeal and Urdistan." She placed her request at the front desk, and waited patiently. While she waited, she considered her request, and carefully framed her question.

An older man eventually arrived. "Yes, what sort of assistance might I provide?" He asked.

"I'm from Urdistan." She said by way of introduction, and he nodded and greeted her in her native tongue, startling her. She replied quickly, and switched back to Anglish.

"There are legends of giants in my hometown." She began, and he gave her a puzzled look. "And some of them mention that they too serve the Golden Lady."

He nodded to show that he understood, and gestured for her to continue.

"My responsibility was patrolling the Sterious. Looking for mutants, abominations, blasphemers and the like. I believe at one time I may have spotted a giant, high in the mountains." She reported. "Because of those legends... and because our supplies were low, I couldn't pursue. But I wanted to know: Are they Goddess-serving peoples?"

His eyes lit up at that. "That was a debate that was popular thirty or so years ago that's relevant to your curiosity." He mentioned, and gestured for her to follow him. She nodded, and they moved into the stacks of books and scrolls.

"There are many mentions of giants, from all over the Anglish Empire... and beyond." He began. "Even Nauders, our newest subordinate territory, has reported their share of giants. I believe they call them 'Hymir'. Something like that, anyway." he replied casually. "So most assuredly giant-folk exist. Whether they serve the Golden Lady, however..." he trailed off.

"It's important to me that I understand their relationship to us." She replied. He sighed, and nodded.

"Remember how I said there had been a debate? Some of the older tales from our lands do mention them. Tribes of giants with feathers in their hair. It's said they worship the Golden Lady, but the armies of the Golden Lady have never encountered them, and they have never once come to our aid." he turned to face her. "If they did serve the Golden Lady, as we do, then it only stands to reason that they too, would come to Her aid. The fact that they haven't is pretty telling, don't you think?" He asked.

Elizabeth refrained from pointing out of of Katarina's favorite sayings: The Anglish Empire and the Golden Lady were separate.

"If they did attempt to come to our aid, wouldn't they be slain for mutants?" She asked, and he made a gesture with his hand. "That's a point of contention. To answer your question, the answer is yes, likely they would be slain on sight. You cannot tell faith simply by looking. If a giant suddenly appeared in Darnell, they'd likely be gutted long before they had a chance to tell us whom it is that they look to serve. Also, with the ... more rigid teachings that are given to the common man, it's unlikely that they would find any degree of acceptance, even if they had appeared and joined the Anglish Empire."

"So I shouldn't kill them." She mused.

"Well, I wouldn't say that. How do you know the one you face is Goddess-fearing, or a mutant?" He laughed, hands raised. "Wouldn't it simply be better- safer- to send them to the Golden Lady?" He asked. "If they serve, then the Goddess will judge their deeds and give them their reward. If they do not, they will face the Void of Oblivion."

She gave him a puzzled look, but kept her mouth closed. So Ollara truly did serve the Goddess, then. But the archivist was right. Ollara would never find acceptance in these lands. The giantess didn't want to return home, however.

"Thank you." She resolved, fist to her heart. "If I see one of them again, I shall respond appropriately." She advised, and he nodded.

"When you find yourself in the homeland, be sure to have an amandine for me." He urged with a smile. "While the Anglish certainly have great desserts, nothing can quite seem to match a proper amandine." She nodded, gave him a wave, and mentally prepared herself for an arduous ride to the harbor. Even with her horse, the city was so mind-bogglingly huge it took forever to get anywhere. So thinking, she stepped out of the Librarium and collided with an older woman, knocking her to the paving stones.

"Excuse me." She immediately apologized contritely, and struggled to right herself, the sun in her eyes.

"Nonsense." The woman replied, and hauled Elizabeth to her feet. The older woman gave her an intense, scrutinizing look while Elizabeth struggled to look away without being rude. In a word, the woman was ugly. Half of the woman's face was a thick shear of pink scar tissue, continuing down her neck. Her ear was a shapeless lump. Three crawling scars dragged up from that mass, disappearing into her scalp. Her hair was cut short like a man's, and she spoke with a dry, hard voice that scratched and scraped.

"Urdistan mail." She decided, and Elizabeth goggled at her. "That's right, how did you know?" She asked.

The scarred woman's face stretched into an approximation of a smile. The effect was ghastly. "The older mail had vulnerabilities. I suggested corrections." She tugged on the woman's mail, near the shoulder. "Seems like my suggestions were taken." She added. Her flinty eyes narrowed.

"You're not one of my pupils." She stated flatly.

Elizabeth nodded. "I arrived in Darnell the other day."

"A Knight-Errant, I surmise." the scarred woman replied. "Well, I'll certainly see you soon enough."

Elizabeth shook her head. "I haven't a sponsor, nor have I received my blessing from the Church." She explained awkwardly. "I want to be one- a paladin, I mean- but I don't think it'll happen yet, despite what Katarina says."

The older woman was nodding sympathetically, already dismissing the girl in her mind, when she zeroed in on what the girl was saying.

"Katarina?" She asked, and the girl's eyebrows shot up.

"Yes, that's right. Katarina lon Pavlenko. She's a Witch Hunter." Elizabeth replied, adding the house particle to the Witch Hunter's name.

The older woman gave her a ghastly sneer. "I know the woman. She's a lot more than a Witch Hunter." She began, and then raised an eyebrow. "Is she here? In the city?"

Elizabeth blinked. "She should be. She went to the Alstroemeria a few days ago."

The older woman let out a plosive breath. "That girl was always headstrong and stubborn." She muttered. She eyed Elizabeth. "Want to go a few bouts? If Katarina says you've got the steel to be a paladin, then it falls to me to test that metal."

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth replied, baffled.

The woman slapped herself on the face. "My mistake. Introductions are in order, I suppose. I am Nadette. I run the Garrison here in Darnell. If you want to be a Paladin, sooner or later you and I will have to cross swords as I test you."

Elizabeth was beside herself with shock. This hideous woman was Nadette? Nadette was nearly a legend throughout the Anglish Empire. The stories painted her as a beauty, but clearly that was not the case! There was no way to extricate herself. She nodded dumbly.

"Where's your horse? It's a bit of a trip to the Garrison." Nadette asked as she approached her own mount, a beautiful warhorse that was as strong and muscled as she suspected Nadette herself to be, but as beautiful as the woman was hideous.

Elizabeth gestured to her own horse, not nearly as large or sleekly muscled as Nadette's own.

The old woman cackled. Elizabeth recoiled, it was like seeing a rock laugh, and it sounded just as bad, a rasping, scraping cough.

"Well, I guess I'll expect you in an hour." Nadette replied, hoisted herself into the saddle with easy grace, pointed in the direction Elizabeth suspected she would need to go to get to the Garrison, and urged her horse onward.

"Fuck." Elizabeth spat bitterly.

The Garrison was a fortress in and of itself, a massive hexagonal block of carved stone with a lancet arch front gate and gothic minarets. Elizabeth couldn't identify the stone used; it seemed as though it had been somehow stained a garish oxblood. Around the perimeter was a bas relief of all the saints and angels bearing swords and spears drifting under a stylized sun, floating over an army of Anglish soldiers which in turn pursued ghastly, capering forms that shied away from the spears and swords. The level of detail was breathtaking. A cleric behind the mighty army of the Anglish was wreathed in a banner carried by cherubs and doves. On the banner, and written in the old High Gothic that hadn't been used since Saint Celestine's time nearly a thousand years ago, were the words, "Confutatis maledictis, Flammis acribus addictis, Voca me cum benedictis."

Passing under the portcullis, Elizabeth was presented with a double row of the Blessed Saints of the Golden Lady. She recognized some of them from studies, sermons, and songs: Katherine, Alicia, Silviana, Andrianna, Theresa, Veronika, Galatea, and the grandest of them all, Celestine.

Beyond the statues of the saints were statues of renowned and legendary warriors, paladins, priestesses and clerics, and beyond those were rows of statues dedicated to those that had died performing heroic deeds. Overhead was a perfect sphere of gold, polished to a brilliant mirror shine, representing the Lady of the Dawn, the Golden Goddess that was both the heart and the lifeblood of the Anglish Empire. Likewise, polished panels of gold along the upper walls twenty feet up reflected a golden light down upon the saints and heroes at all times of the day.

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She paused, something tugging at her vision, and backtracked.

Seemingly out of place amongst all the women was a sculpture of an older man, done in the newer style. Rich detail filled this statue, so much so that she wouldn't have been surprised at all to see him step off the pedestal. The older man had moustaches that hung down past his chin, a broad hat, long coat, and a look of hungry scrutiny in his expression. What drew her eye was the gun the man held in his hand, identical in every detail to Katarina's gun. She stared in undisguised awe at the statue for some time, finally dragging her eyes down to read the plaque at his feet. "The Wolf of Alastor, Lord Donald of House Christensen, Justicar Witch Hunter." she read quietly. Below the caption was a list of titles and accolades, names and places.

"He almost looks out of place, doesn't he?" A man dressed like a warrior asked her as he passed by. "Not often a man is recognized for his works." he added. He kept walking further into the Garrison. Elizabeth made a mental note to ask Katarina about him when she had the chance.

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Katarina sat in a comfortable chair, feet crossed at the ankles. Next to her was a small table with a glass of wine. Across from her was a familiar desk, and a familiar man sat behind the desk, elbows propped on the edge, hands clasped together, fingers interlocking. A surge of adrenaline in her breast jolted her to her feet, hand seeking her gun as she recognized her old tormentor.

"I want you to wake up, Katarina." Devon announced when she caught his eye.

She frowned at the man. "You're not Devon."

The man smiled at her benignly. "Of course I'm not. You saw to that ten years ago." he replied comfortably. "I'm you."

"You are not me." She immediately spat back in venomous hate. Her gun and sword were gone from her, she realized.

"Oh yes I am." He replied. "I'm you. In times past, I represented the fear of betrayal, the fear of relationships, the fear of trust." He explained calmly, patiently, a teacher to his student. It wasn't fair. She had loved him with the simple, uncomplicated love of a student for her teacher, and he had betrayed her. Betrayed her, betrayed his country, his Goddess, a Witch in the guise of a man. "You've done well to move past those things, so I no longer represent them." he explained gently.

"So what are you now?" She demanded. There was a desperate panic swelling in her.

"I am your fear of intrusion." he replied. "You don't much like the idea of someone reaching into your mind and mucking things about."

Katarina nodded at that. "You're damned right I don't. It's disgusting and offensive."

"That it is." he agreed blandly. When he was alive, he had done the same thing to her. Manipulated and twisted her mind about to his whims. "So when are you going to wake up?" He asked.

"What?" Katarina asked, baffled.

"When are you going to wake up?" He repeated. This wasn't the horror of her old nightmare, the one where he taunted and tormented her and betrayed her over and over again. This felt different. She had sicked up that poison in her more than a year ago, back in Aston. This was some part of her own mind reflecting back at her.

She blinked. "I'm asleep?" She wondered. He nodded. "Can you not see the dream for what it is?" He asked, gesturing around his office.

She concentrated in thought for a moment, and then nodded. "You're right. I've been drugged." She realized.

"Alayne's doing." He replied. "Even now she hovers over your body, demanding answers to questions you thought to keep secret."

She grimaced. "Alayne is a friend..." She began slowly, reluctantly. "If I could trust someone, anyone, it would be her." She decided, hand going to her forehead.

He shook his head. "If that were really the case, then I would not be here." He replied. "She tramples through your mind indiscriminately, and so I am here, trying to get you to wake up."

"She must have some reason." Katarina replied doubtfully.

Devon clenched his fists together on his desk and brought them both down on the ledger with a solid impact. Despite herself, she flinched at the flat bang.

"She wasn't invited." He replied furiously, and continued, "And that pisses you off. I am outrage, Katarina. Yours. Wake up, Witch Hunter! Wake up and share with that audacious woman the gift of your fury!"

She turned her head, and Frederika nodded at her. Off to the side, Sasaki glared hotly. "I am dangerous, Witch Hunter." She declared, and her hand fell to the pommel of her sword.

Katarina opened her eyes, expecting to see the study. Instead, she appeared to be in some sort of den, on a low sofa before a roaring fireplace. Her mouth was gummy and bitter, her throat raw.

"She's awake, Mistress." A voice called, and Kararina rolled off the sofa and stood. She immediately staggered with dizziness and disorientation, but she struggled to ignore it, feeding off the strength of her anger, her fury. Devon was right, a fury burned in her chest at the invasion. Sawyer stood off to the side, by the door, her eyes wide and dark and mysterious, one hand behind her skirts.

Alayne herself eyed the Witch Hunter over her brandy from her seat. "And so she is."

"You drugged me." Katarina began hotly, and Alayne nodded. "That I did." she agreed in an amiable voice. "We had a long chat, you and I." She added. "Long and long."

"You bitch." Katarina replied, hand dipping for her gun. Her hand closed on nothing, at which point she realized she was unarmed. Her hands balled into fists. Alayne laughed at this.

"All of my life, the whole of it was an inquisitor, Witch Hunter. When a woman comes to my door saying such things as being touched and molded by the Goddess, what am I to do but be suspicious?" She remarked dismissively.

"And what was it that you needed to know so much that you drugged me?" Katarina asked, working her mouth to clear the taste.

"Fetch the woman some wine, Sawyer." Alayne ordered with a frown at the maid.

The young woman shook her head. "Nope. Not going near her." Sawyer replied simply. Her hand stayed behind her skirts, likely holding a weapon.

Alayne flicked her a troubled glance, but retrieved a silver cup and carafe of wine and set them in front of the Witch Hunter.

"There have been a few things about you that I've wondered since nearly the beginning." Alayne replied, taking her seat. "So I satisfied myself with them... and I wanted to learn what you've been up to within the last year." She added.

"You could have asked." Katarina spat, sloshing wine into her cup and knocking it back.

Alayne shook her head. "You wouldn't have told me everything. Oh, you might not have lied, but you wouldn't have told me everything, and that's what I wanted to know." Alayne replied simply. "So I used the Crimson incense to induce a trance and interrogated your soul." She finished with a sip from her glass.

"Crimson?" Katarina gasped. "The last time someone used crimson incense on me, I died!" She snarled, glaring at the older woman.

Alayne rolled her eyes. "That can only happen if the trance is unguided." She replied. "You were never in any danger. I learned how to guide a trance long before you were paddling around in your mother's belly, Witch Hunter."

"So what did you learn?" Katarina repeated.

"Some of it was idle speculation on my part." She readily agreed. "You may not recall, but you went through an Interrogation of the Soul almost immediately after ... after you killed Devon. I needed to know everything I could about him. What he was, how he managed to do what he did without being discovered- all of it. I needed to know." She paused. "So I drugged you, I induced you to open your soul to me, and I interrogated you." She paused again. "Devon was executed as a Witch. We understand his powers were unique in some way we still don’t yet understand. He was a manipulator of the mind. Worse, his powers couldn’t be detected in the conventional ways. He never once resonated as a mage. Not once. How could he do that? I had to know. For the safety and security of the Empire, I had to know every single thing he did. I thought, maybe through investigation of every single person he ever came in contact with, we might've found some clue, some hint of how he came to be able to do what he did- and only then could we try and undo everything he’d done." She paused again. "I had to Interrogate you."

She looked down at her hands. "There's a price to pay for what I did, and I've been prepared to pay it. But that's not why I drugged you. I asked you about it in passing, to see if the blocks I'd put into place had failed." She barked a bitter laugh. "Useless, of course. You're just too damned strong-willed. But there were other things I wanted to know, more relevant, pertinent things. I wanted to hear about the explosion at the Tower of Secrets in Tannit, and... I wanted to know just what exactly you've been up to for the past year."

Katarina rolled her eyes at that.

"I died. I was assigned the responsibility to kill my sister. I killed Morgan Blackhand. I reconnected with my family. I went to Ardeal and defeated an evil there. I went to Montesilvano and I killed more there. I travelled to Osk, and I went to Blackwall, where I caught a ship here." Katarina summarised, her voice terse.

Alayne nodded. "See? Like I said, you wouldn't tell me everything." She repeated.

Katarina rolled her eyes at that.

"You didn't mention Ollara or Elizabeth, you didn't mention at all that village of beastmen you massacred, the judgement you visited on the Witch Hunter Keep, Simurgh, the Regalia of the Dawn, or the Emerald Tablets."

Katarina sighed. "Everything, then." She acknowledged in a defeated voice.

Alayne nodded. "Everything. I'm not your enemy, Katarina. Not at all. As soon as you're up for it, I've a team of priestesses and clerics on hand to perform the Rites of Inspection that will officially confirm what you and I both know already."

Katarina sighed again. "Everything."

Alayne nodded again. "Everything. I'm going to give you a lesson, Katarina, so listen up:" She began, and the Witch Hunter sat back on the sofa and kicked her feet up on the table arrogantly.

"It might be possible to thwart the best-laid plans of woman and man, but no one can stand against plans of the Golden Lady." She warned.

"No shit." Katarina replied sarcastically. "So you gonna tell me why I haven't been arrested?" She asked. "When I was in Einsamkeit I learned that there was a charge levied against me by the Torchbearers, that I was a sixth-degree Moral Threat. You're no slouch. Even if you weren't the Lady High Inquisitor, you should have arrested me."

Alayne shook her head. "It was bullshit. Bullshit. You've got enemies in the Book, Witch Hunter. They cobbled together a bunch of bullshit accusations based on hearsay and used it to slap a charge on you. Bullshit." She gulped some wine, and Katarina drank hers. Alayne recharged them both.

"They've been sending you orders to return to Darnell, right?" She asked, and Katarina shook her head.

"No." She replied. "'suggestions' and 'requests', but never an explicit order." Katarina replied.

Alayne snorted. "A 'request' is an 'order' and an order from the Book is practically holy writ, woman." she replied. "So let's review: We have a Witch Hunter who is kind of an obnoxious cunt to everyone she meets. Oh, she does her job, there's no denying that when it comes to killing Witches, she's the best at what she does, but aside from her kill-count, which is significant, the only things we have on file is that she's a cunt that likes to shove her authority around, badger and bully people into doing what she wants, and then fuck off before consequences come due."

Katarina jolted, and nodded. "I'm definitely guilty of that." She admitted in a low voice.

"Not a crime, but definitely a sign of a shitty personality." Alayne agreed wolfishly. "I'm guilty of the same, so don't take it too badly."

"The big deal is that you don't like to bathe with others." She added. "And I'm sure you have your reasons, but the main thing is that those baths are one of our first lines of defense in tracking mutation. Someone isn't seen in a public bath for a while, questions get asked. Investigations are started."

Katarina sighed. "When I was a child, I was brought to Darnell to become a Witch Hunter at the age of six." She began. "But I couldn't actually begin my training until I was 11. Having no other place to put me, they placed me in an orphanage, and I was the only girl in an orphanage of fifty boys. I had to defend myself everywhere- including the baths." She explained. "There are a lot of men out there that think that 'no' really means 'I'm playing coy, I really mean yes'." She explained. "There was never a point where I was in fear for myself, but I decided pretty quickly that it was simply easier to bathe after everyone else was done rather than have to break arms and noses of eager lumberjacks, farmers, and miners every single time I wanted to bathe."

Alayne nodded at that, and waved her hand. "Like I said, you probably had your reasons." She explained dismissively. "Don't think I'm making light of them, either. But it was enough suspicion to force a Moral Threat accusation. Only sixth-degree, but a Moral Threat is a Moral Threat."

"Then why am I still alive?" Katarina asked.

"Because it was bullshit." Alayne replied. "I personally dismissed the charges against you when I heard about them. That cost me my position." She explained curtly. "The Inquisition stands apart from the Empire, Katarina. We're supposed to be inviolable. We're the check against the worst excesses of the Nobility, and yet my Inquisition had been used to further some political agenda, and I had to make a choice between watching a friend suffer the worst tortures we've come up with or walking away." She paused, and let out a long breath. "No more. Never again."

Katarina sat thoughtfully for a moment, absorbing this information.

"Now you know how the Witch Hunters felt about being absorbed into the Empire." Katarina returned, after a thoughtful moment.

Alayne didn't say anything. Katarina nodded, and finished her wine, and got up to leave. "I'm sorry I caused you to suffer so, Alayne." She added, and turned to leave.

"Katarina." Alayne called, as Katarina's hand fell on the latch. She turned back to the older woman.

"When did you learn to speak the Divine Language?" Alayne asked, and Katarina raised her eyebrow at the unexpected question.

"You can't." Katarina replied simply. "Not the way it's supposed to, at least." She couldn't help but smile. "Listen to the fury of the storm, and you can hear it. The grumbling roar of an earthquake. The cacophony of a volcanic eruption. You'll hear the real Divine spoken. The syllables were never meant to be pronounced by the human tongue or spoken from a human throat." She explained. "But you taught me what the symbols meant, and their approximate interpretation and pronunciation."

"I did no such thing." Alayne argued, glaring at the Witch Hunter.

Katarina raised an eyebrow. "No, I distinctly remember: You loaned the Codicium Aeternum to me for study when I was but a neophyte." She refuted. "You didn't put it into my hands, but it was at my desk with a note from you."

Alayne stared at her in shock. "No. No way. Certainly not." She stated flatly, emphatically. "There is no way, no reason that I would authorize the release of a Emerald-sealed tome to a wet-behind-the-ears Initiate for any reason." She stated flatly. "I wouldn't release that book to anyone with the exception of the Grand Cardinal herself, and I'd need a damned good reason to do so, beforehand. It is deadly and dangerous to the untrained." She stated hotly.

"Well, it was done." Katarina replied simply. "A good thing, too. It saved my life a few months back." she added.

"More manipulation." Alayne cursed under her breath.