“To the reeking breath of goblins, there must be a door here somewhere! I can almost feel the magic of these witches on my skin. Those devil’s bastards must cover up the entrance somehow!” I cursed.
“I am convinced that we are at the right place, Noan.” Father Tero, the highly experienced priest of Dermeron turned to me, stroking through his greyish goatee. “I am sensing the strong presence of dark magic in this very room.”
“I will not stop before I find these creeps, may the gods burn them!” I burst out.
To calm my anger, I pushed over a shelf. The jars broke with a loud clattering noise, their content spilled before our feet. The men remained silent, they knew me better than to interfere. I squatted down, picked up some delicious pickles and took a bite. A pleasantly sour taste spread in my mouth as I loudly chewed on it, thinking hard about what our next step should be. After a few moments, I felt a light breeze on my cheek coming from behind the shelf.
“That’s it, I got you, you sneaky little rats! Noan has come for you!” I cried out and pushed the remains of the cupboard aside.
A tiny hollow emerged among the stones at knee-height. I kicked it a few times with the heel of my boots and the stone loosened in its place. I continued until the other stones got loose too and a huge hole was created in the wall where an adult could crawl through.
“It was by no chance that you were promoted master inquisitor, you have an exquisite scent when it comes to this,” Funny was nodding respectfully.
“I have seen many things, my friend, this is not the first witch nest that I’ve smoked out. Get your weapons ready! Let’s cut these wenches into a thousand little pieces. Keep your eyes open, even on your back!” I ordered.
“I will sweep them off their feet anyway, no woman can resist my charm. They will surrender voluntarily, just watch,” Handsome boasted.
“Would you like to go first, lady-killer?” I asked him.
“No, Master, I prefer that you went.”
“From now on, everyone shut their damned mouths and follow me!”
I was the first one to squeeze myself through the hole. I found myself in a dark, narrow corridor. I drew Loomer from its scabbard. One side of the corridor was a dead-end, the other continued in a bend. The others climbed through the hole one by one. Holding the Loomer in my hand, we set off, one after the other, to go down the narrow, winding path. After a few turns, we got to a descending staircase which led to an old, massive oak door that blocked our way. I was concentrating but I couldn’t sense any danger coming from the direction of the door, thus there was no trap or defensive magic applied there. I was sharpening my ears and heard a quiet female conversation from inside. I carefully pushed down the latch but it wouldn’t move. I had a good command of the priestly magic, but not as good as the father behind me. Us, paladins weren’t taught about this secret and extensive discipline, we were rather trained for combat.
“What do you think, Father? Can you blast it open with the power of God?” I turned back, quietly whispering.
“Armed with the power of Dermeron, no obstacle can block our way. Yes, I can open it,” he responded.
“We are going to infiltrate! You know the rules, those who surrender will be captured alive and interrogated. Those who resist will be ruthlessly sent to the other world. Any questions?” I looked at the eyes that were sparkling in the light of the torches.
They nodded quietly. Everyone was aware of the situation we were in. The tension could be physically sensed in the narrow path. Witches could be merciless enemies. Everyone in my crew knew what this job entailed. I selected them carefully from the novices who finished the Inquisitor Academy. Long months of learning and partaking in perilous missions awaited them before they could become real heretic hunters. Money was not the reason they undertook this job, but it was instead the recognition and the fearsome respect that Inquisitors received wherever they went.
“Father Tero, show the devastating power of Dermeron to these faithless fools!” I let him go before me.
He folded his hands and uttered a short prayer.
“Lord, assist your servant and, with your boundless power, smite those who trespass against you. Now and for ever!”
He clenched his fist and pointed at the door. At that moment, the door crashed downwards with all its hinges, as if a giant had kicked it in. We dashed into the room, not knowing what was awaiting us inside. We found ourselves in a crescent-shaped basement and the strong scent of anise filled the air. Peculiar symbols were drawn with chalk in the middle of the ground, they noticeably exuded dark magic. Five women stood around it with their backs towards us, they were wearing a simple blue veil barely covering their allurements. They were holding toxic green candles in their hands. An altar erected in front of them, decorated by skulls of various animals and vials containing liquids of all colors. Elaborately ornamented candle holders provided the necessary light from the walls all around. The women were performing a ceremony or some sort of spell when we intruded. They looked at us surprised.
“In the name of the Inquisition, surrender, you heretics, or we will smite you all!” I yelled, gripping Loomer with both hands.
They looked at each other puzzled faces. It was an ice-blonde, curly haired beauty that came to her senses first – her stunningly beautiful turquoise eyes glowed threateningly in the candlelight. A pitch-black cameo was hanging in her neck, depicting the silver head of a grinning cat. She exuded a remarkable confidence. She blew the candle in her hand and started talking.
“Shadow Sisters, defy the intruders, do not fear them!” she yelled in a voice like a kestrel.
A strong draught rustled through the hall and the ice-blonde woman levied from the ground. The veil she wore was tousled by the sudden breeze. She pointed at Handsome with her left hand, uttered a word and a firewall burst up high from under him, the flames completely surrounding the poor devil. He tossed away his weapons, screaming, and was desperately trying to put out the fire, weltering on the ground. Funny jumped to cover him with his mantle, hoping to arrive in time to save him from the flames. A whiff of burnt flesh hit my nostrils as I clenched my jaw, forced to witness the mortal agony of my friend.
“Don’t spare those bloody whores, Inquisitors. Attack!” I cried.
I murmured a quick battle spell as I jumped up from the ground, asking for Dermeron’s blessing.
“Lord, grant power to your faithful servant to defy the evil within this house!”
At that moment, I felt that Dermeron’s blessing spread through my body, and I knew that if He was with me, I could defeat anyone. I mercilessly ripped the chest of the woman standing the closest to me, not giving her time to finish her despicable spell. Fist appeared on my right, spinning his long staff in front of him with the speed of a tornado. He ruthlessly hit the witch at her temporal, making her skull crackle as she dropped dead on the ground. One witch managed to complete a spell. Roots and tendrils spurted out from the ground and surrounded the limbs of Fist and Stout, rendering them immobile. A witch suddenly flopped down, tearing her hair with both hands from an agonizing pain. This could only be the making of the good old Father Tero.
I turned towards the floating woman. I felt she was the strongest of all. She must have been the local leader of the coven, the ramador. I wanted to finish her off soonest, before she would cast other dreadful spells at us. I was a mere two steps away from her and I lifted Loomer, glowing with blood, when she spread her fingers and shouted. An ultimate invisible power shoved me in the chest and tossed me to the wall behind me. My hauberk armor made of steel rings nullified nothing of its power. My cuirass might have softened some of the impact, had I been wearing it then. I heard my ribs cracking, an excruciating pain spread in my body. The destructive power of the hit pressed all breath out of my lungs. The salty taste of my blood spread through my mouth as I bit my tongue.
She got me hard, the goddamn wench! I couldn’t get on my feet. Funny and Freckledface got into an attack, they lifted their swords
above their heads as they rushed at the enemy. Before reaching them, however, the floating blonde woman started screaming, emitting a supernatural ear-splitting sound. This paralyzed our assault as everyone stopped to cover their ears with their hands, dropping down to the ground, fighting the pulsating agony. The last two followers of the Shadow Sisters seized the opportunity and rapidly rushed toward the exit. There was no time to waste on my frail body, our enemies were about to slip through our fingers. I quelled the pain raving through my body. Summoning all my remaining magic power, I murmured a brief prayer, pointing at the escaping witches.
“Dermeron, smite those heretics who trespass against us!”
Divine energies diffused in my arm. I emitted an azure lightning from my fingertips that thrust in their back, they cried out of pain and dropped on the floor. I sighed, causing a searing pain in my lungs which indicated that my chest shouldn’t be overburdened. I could see in the corner of my eyes that the blonde beauty jumped up as if invisible hands were helping her. While the other witch had dropped dead, the blonde woman seemed to have survived my lightning spell without a scratch. She turned, and narrowing her turquoise eyes.
“This is not over, Inquisitor. I will drink your blood and dance above your corpse. This I swear!”
She spat towards me. Her massive spit started to burn the ground, sizzling, as if it was some concentrated acid.
“I am standing before you, catch me, if you can, you bastard!” I yelled at her with all my energy as I was trying to get on my feet.
She snapped her fingers and disappeared from our sight in a puff of smoke. I wiped the blood from my lips and prudently straightened up. Still dizzy from the power of the hit, I had to lean against the wall. The tendrils capturing my fellows retreated to the ground, to their great relief.
“Are you alright, Noan?” Father Tero was asking me as he stepped beside me.
“Never been better, brother Inquisitor, I have seen worse.” Each breath I took caused intense, piercing pain.
Funny went up to check Handsome, who was lying on the ground with his body burnt, but he just shook his head.
“He didn’t make it. Ronwold Meron, may Dermeron guide you in the afterlife. May your soul rest in peace, brother.” He covered the entirely burnt body of our fellow.
“That bloody witch, she killed Handsome and got away!” I hit the wall irritably. I crossed my fingers and uttered a short prayer for the soul of our deceased. I looked over the team that was still licking its wounds.
“May the crows gouge the eyes of those witches! What was this, Master? We should have easily killed them!” cursed Stout.
“I was as much baffled as you were, brother Inquisitor. I shot a lightning into the witch and she survived without a scratch!”
“Calm yourself. We cannot bring him back, Master,” said Father Tero.
“His time has come to an end in this world. He fell in a fight, sacrificing his life for the sacred purpose. The congregation was liquidated, our mission is accomplished. The city has been cleansed of this plague which nested underneath its skin. We will drink to that today, brothers! We fight as long as we breathe!” I yelled.
“We fight as long as we breathe!” the response came quickly and confidently.
“Who could that ice-blonde woman be?” asked Father Tero, twitching his facial muscles nervously. “This was a short call, we might have lost because of her. We could have killed the others without problems and Handsome would be still alive. This woman had control over dreadful powers. I haven’t seen anything alike for a long tim, and, I must admit, that alarms me.”
“There is no doubt, Father, that we were facing a particularly powerful ramador. We must track down this wench! We cannot leave the death of our brother Inquisitor unavenged” I replied.
“If I get hold of that damn crone, I will squeeze the life out of her.” Funny was clenching his fist out of anger.
“It has almost been a year that we have worked as a team and no one had died. Did we make a mistake during the assault, master?” asked Freckledface, stroking his clean-shaven face.
“No. The assault began impeccably, we managed to surprise them. Unfortunately, we had to face a ramador of remarkable power. Even I had never encountered a heretic of such strength, despite having experienced a lot during my years as Inquisitor.”
“This started off as a regular assault, in a small country village. It seemed to be a routine job, and ended up like this,” Fist was pointing at our departed fellow, his almond-eyes narrowing as he was shaking his head.
“As Inquisitor, you should know that there is no such thing as a routine job. However easy and simple a mission seems, it could easily be your last one. I thought that I already managed to hammer this into your head,” I told him.
“We sometimes need a slap to shake us up, Master. To be aware that being an inquisitor is not a profession but a lifestyle,” he answered, rubbing his bald forehead.
“Take the body of Handsome, we will go back to the house, the town watch will arrive any time.”
“Master, this here is still alive,” Fist was pointing at a witch whose chest was rising and sinking rhythmically.
“Tie her! The wench will find her tongue during the interrogation. And now, back to the house!”
We all went up to the yard and returned to the ground floor of the house. Sounds of marching soldiers approached from outside. They kicked in the door and a platoon barged in, all wearing chainmail armor with mountain lion heads on their shields, spears and swords in their hands. They surrounded us in a half circle. I signalled my team not to make a move.
“What is going on here? Who are you?” their slightly overweight commander yelled, pointing a winged spear at me. The badge on his arm revealed his position.
“Back down, commander! We are not the enemy,” I warned in a firm tone.
I carefully pulled the symbol of Inquisition, the prancing unicorn, out of my pocket, and showed it to him together with the written mandate that gave us full authority in the whole of the town. The commander examined the document with suspicion, snorted, and lowered his weapon, signalling to the soldiers around us too.
“Excuse me, Sir. My name is Lieutenant Drakos from the town watch, the commander of this platoon. We were not informed about the Inquisition’s presence in our town.”
“I am Master Noan and this is my team. We arrived in confidentiality to investigate some suspicious cases in the town. We successfully broke up the congregation of the Shadow Sisters. They had been secretly practicing in this house. Unfortunately, their leader managed to escape. The others are all dead or captured,” I was pointing at the people hog-tied on the ground. “We would like to take them to a city prison to interrogate them. I am asking for your help with carrying the corpses, one of our deceased brothers is among them as well. We would like to bury him with respect.”
“We had no idea there were witches in our town.”
“Hence our arrival, Lieutenant.”
“Naturally, I am at your service regarding all matters, master,” Drakos responded, immediately taking action by giving orders to his people.
Soon, a prisoner wagon arrived. We tucked the witch in and the three helpers that we captured in the house. A couple dozen residents gathered on the street, curiously trying to find out what had happened. We assigned the dirty job of handling the mob and responding to questions to the soldiers. We made no halt before we arrived to the prison accompanied by armed forces; fortunately it wasn’t very far. My side was smarting dreadfully. I couldn’t wait to arrive to a calm place to lay my head. We allowed no one close to the wagon. It was still raining as we got completely drenched along the way. The heavy bars of the prison gate rose as we arrived, the captives were taken upstairs by the soldiers where torment awaited them.
“Take the helpers of the Shadow Sisters into your hands and leave the captured bitch to me.” I said.
“Yes, Master Noan.”
Father Tero, after examining the wounded, healed the sm
aller injuries with the power of Dermeron. I retreated to a quiet room and prepared to offer a sacrifice to Dermeron to have his healing power spread through my ailing body. I consecrated a bowl of water and dipped the blade of Loomer inside. I carefully washed off the coagulated blood, and swirled the water that took a dark red color. I took a deep sip from the bowl. I kneeled above it, holding onto my symbol tightly, and I started praying.
“I am your faithful servant, my Lord. I am begging you to heal my wounds which I inflicted in the fight I fought in your name! Cease the pain that is mercilessly burning my frail body. Help me to serve you with the best of my capability!”
The divine energy spread through my entire body, diffusing pleasant warmth as I was uttering the sacred words. My body soon began its healing process; my cracked ribs would surely knit themselves back together before the sun rises to its highest point at noon.
I headed straight to the cell of the witch. Only a thin veil covered the body of the young woman. She was chained at her hands and legs tightly, laid down on a huge table. Witches needed their left hand to cast spells, thus she was lying there helpless, deprived of her powers. She cannot have seen more than twenty-five winters. Funny was taking care of her personally not to let her attempt anything.
“Do you desire me, that you are staring at me so much? Come and penetrate me. Take me!” she was laughing when I opened the door.
“Shut up or I will tear your tongue out!” he shouted irritably, his cheeks blushed.
“Look, the hero has arrived, who defeated five women and a few poor devils.”
A few torches were providing the light in the cell. Pincers, pliers, hammers, a saw, and other tools were gathered on the table in the corner, all useful in making the tormented heretics find their tongues with haste.
“Will you tell us your name?” I stepped up to her.
“What will you give me in exchange, Inquisitor Master?”
“If you don’t cooperate, you will be burnt alive, I can assure you.”
Faceless: The Takeover (The Shapeshifters Book 1) Page 6