Inquisitor Sevens Pov

I looked down from the hill we had just crested. The sun was dim and dreary today, as it often was in the South Founding, and mist was obscuring all but the rooftops of the small hamlet below. My horse shifted uneasily beneath me. It was to be expected, the village had called for aid with a night beast pack and even if they were dead, the scent still lingered.

“Master Sevens have we arrived?” Donald asked me, nice young lad and learning quickly, but he was so shiny and new you could feel it at fifteen paces.

“Just a bit further.” I responded and looked back. Donald and Laywire were with me on this little trip. Donald for experience, Laywire because he was injured and could be spared.

“Must we deliver this message? Are there not better things to do with our time?” Laywire complained for the… I took a moment to count, seventeenth time this mission.

“Perhaps if you had not broken your arm, you would be doing one of those other things, but you did, and are not. Come, we need to locate our target before we can get you back to your more important matters.” I set my horse to a trot down the hill.

Young ones these days were far too eager to rush to their deaths. A wind blew for a moment, from the village carrying the smell of shit and squalor. I could hear Laywire complaining behind me already and tuned him out. A glance down at the mirror hanging off my waist, my seat on the horse angling it back so I could see behind me allowed me to see my Donalds expression. He grimaced but put on a determined face. Good. I smiled and focused back on the hamlet ahead. It was important for new recruits to remember that the world was not just the shielding cities with all of their modernities.

I smirked thinking of the reaction Laywire would have if he dismounted in the hamlet below. Perhaps if I was lucky, he would refuse, and I could get some peace while asking for directions. The chances of the knight still being in town were rather low after all.

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He had refused to dismount and me and Donald were able to get a nice drink as we waited for the barkeep to finish a rambling talk about how they were all saved by the knight. Well, it was a good drink for me, I am rather certain from the face he made that Donald was wondering if he had been poisoned. It was just the local beer, after you have moonshine cut with nightbeast venom from The Line most anything else is at least tolerable.

The barkeep told us that the knight had arrived a week back and waited in town till the beasts attacked. Then chased them through the night towards the old, abandoned chapel to the east. He had returned a day later to let them know that the pack had dispersed, and he would be handling the stragglers out that way, before departing again. Which was why we were once more riding out, with Laywire’s complaints filling the air. He was becoming truly annoying. If he continued perhaps, I’d cut his saddle the next time we were in a hamlet? The thought of dumping the loudmouth in mud and animal excrement was growing more appealing by the day. Okay, perhaps not that, just loosen the strap when he is distracted complaining. No reason to risk harming the horse, even if I am sure I could perform the cut and leave the horse unscathed.

My musings are cut short by a sharp intake of breath from Donald and a curse from Laywire. Ahead of us is a church, though one that has been clearly corrupted. The walls covered in vines and blood, skeletons hanging from the walls and the iron gates that should have kept the cemetery around it safe are long gone. I simply raised my eyebrow at the sight, I could see a number of places where someone had cut down a number of chains or ropes. None of the corpses still upon those walls were human I would say. Clearly the knight at work.

“Come along, we have a message to deliver.” I said for what felt like the dozenth time as I resumed my leisurely ride.

I scanned the church as we approached closer, confirming corpses still hanging were not human. From the look of it the place had been a stronghold of sorts, barrels and crates stacked against the walls and covered by now bloodstained tarps. The number of dried blood pools and the obvious monstrous footprints gave a hint to the sheer size of the infestation that had arisen here. I frowned, the beasts had been smart, this was clearly a far larger group than had been reported to the inquisition. So, they had to have been curtailing their activities and laying low, we were lucky that a Knight of Vaktmesser had accepted such a task. If it had been given to a common inquisitor or one of the roaming suppression squads…I doubted either would have made it out alive.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“We should just kill the abomination, not deliver a letter to it.” And there was Laywire's voice again, dripping with venom, malice and stupidity that he could no longer contain so close to our target.

I turned to glare at him. “Shut up, and do nothing to impede our mission, we are here to deliver a message, nothing more, nothing less.”

I dismounted and Donald followed silently, Laywire was muttering curses beneath his breath, damnations upon the unholy. The fool. I strode up the steps, eyes scanning each one to make sure there were traps set. Upon reaching the large metal banded doors, I used the knocker to knock, once, twice, three times.

“Master Sevens we are knocking?” Donald asked.

“It is a church we should just go in!” Laywire butted in.

I replied without turning around. “One should not startle a Vaktmesser Knight, and it is polite to give notice as best one can of one’s arrival.”

After waiting another moment, I opened the doors, heavy as they are, they swung smoothly upon their hinges, almost silently opening to reveal the interior of the church. The pews were mostly gone, only a handful remaining against the walls. A red carpet lay down the center of the church heading towards the altar at the far end. The room was lit by light streaming in through the stained-glass windows, each one depicting a different saint or angel. All of them had a hole broken through the head, decapitating the figures depicted. The nightbeasts had apparently not liked being watched.

My gaze eventually took in the figure, kneeling in prayer before the altar. He had not moved since we had entered, and I would not rush a man from his holy prayer. I sensed Laywire moving behind me and could almost feel his desire to do something, but it seemed he could at least stay his hand in a house of God, fallen as it may be. Something moved, and my eyes snapped to a twitching bundle of chains and cloth hanging from one of the hooks hanging from the chandeliers. Ah, that makes sense. I ignored it as Donald and Laywire both grabbed their sword hilts and I just walked down the carpet, careful to avoid the drip of blood from the sack.

I came to a stop about ten feet back from the knight. He was in full armor, even helmed, a sword at his waist, I waited patiently, ignoring the stirring behind me. Until I heard the sound of steel leaving scabbard. My blade came to my hand with ease, and its tip was against Laywire's throat before his sword even cleared half his scabbard.

“He is abomination.” Laywire hissed, as a single drop of blood slid down his throat from where the tip of my sword rested.

“We have our orders, get out of here and go wait by the horses.” I stared the fool down. Ignoring Donald who stood, eyes flickering between us in confusion.

With a snarl Laywire shoved his sword back into its sheath and strode from the church radiating rage. I pulled out a kerchief and wiped blood from the tip of my blade, taking a moment to admire it, the thin silver blade was only a bit more than a finger width, but the metal was strong enough to sever even the bones of a vampire. A gift from the Silver Witch, it was a pity to soil it with the blood of a human fool. I turned my gaze from my blade, resheathing it in the process, and focused once more on the knight. He had not moved, but I knew he had been aware of everything. If he was not capable of that much, he would have died long ago.

Finally, after a few more minutes, he raised his head and spoke. “Why are you here regretless one?”

I drew the letter from an inner pocket of my coat. “I am here to deliver a letter; the red eyed sorcerer invites the powers of the world to send whoever they so please to him for training in the slaying of the forces of the Night. The inquisition will not participate, but a number of those within felt that to inform your order of such a thing would be a pertinent choice.”

I heard a snort from within the helmet as he rose and turned to face me. “So, we are to be bait.”

It was not a question, but I answered anyway. “That is what some intend, others think it may be legitimate, and if that is so…”

“Then perhaps we can benefit greatly, is what you mean to imply.” He responded when I trailed off.

I grinned and nodded to him before offering the letter. He took it and opened it, beginning to read. With nothing else to say, I turned to leave, waving Donald to follow me. The knight made no move to hold me back and we quickly returned to the doors of the church. It was as I pushed one open that the sword lashed out to take my head. My own sword struck first, and I did not even break stride as Laywire collapsed to his knees trying to hold his life’s blood inside and breath through a slit throat. I continued for a few more steps before a voice called out from behind me.

“Sir…?” Donald’s hesitant voice stopped me, and I turned back to him.

I looked from him to the fool on the ground and realization struck. I spoke. “I forgot how new you are, follow me and leave that there, if god wills it, he will survive, if not he has earned his execution.”

I strode towards the horses, after a moment Donald followed behind me. I continued speaking once he caught up. “The Inquisition is not a monolith boy, we all serve God, but by the very nature of our role we all hold certain portions of God's words as the core of what we believe. Some are, however, more extreme than others.”

Donald's face was tight as we mounted our horses and I turned from him to stare out at the horizon.

“The strength of our belief gives us power and the strength to stand against the monsters of the Night. But many of us lose sight of everything else, becoming mindless fanatics. That fool had received a mission from the grandmaster themself and chose to ignore it and draw blade twice on those who could kill him within moments. Including a senior inquisitor.”

I turned back to look at Donald as I continued. “If his faith is strong enough, he will survive such a wound, crawl back to a safehouse, and likely be recruited directly by the more fanatical of us to serve alongside them and that will be the end of it. This is a harsh world boy, and we walk a path of thorns and chains. One of these days you’ll need to figure out where you stand among us, and how far your path goes.”

I urged my horse into a trot, and we continued along the road back towards the hamlet. After a while upon the road, as the hamlet once more came into view, Donald asked me a question. “And what is your path?”

I answered with calm certainty. “Die with no regrets.” I answered as the night fell upon the world.

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