Lessaria….
"I'm still saying that I don't trust the King, and even less the Inquisition."
"I agree with you, Renard. But do we really have a choice?" replied Flora.
The small group was walking into the steer slopped streets of the city of Lessaria; their destination the huge Citadel that dominated the urban landscape. The formal and written oaths of safe passage that have been accorded to them... Would they be considered as mere scraps of papers? To ask that question was inviting a negative response. However, like Flora had said, other possibilities were somewhat unlikely... If they did not answer positively to the Inquisition's request for "an honest and frank encounter in Lessaria to shed light on certain points," the organization would have launch open hostilities; an event that would make things get really ugly (with the current King, a war against the Inquisition would be a war against the state...) Some in the ranks of the larger group in which Renard and his "followers" have operated recently were hoping that some shocking revelations would force the Church and the Inquisition to no negotiate with them. Renard was having serious doubts about the success of this method. If they explained the truth about certain things, they risked the rage of the dignitaries that were true believers. They also risked of angering those who knew the truth about Ajora, but who feared the said truth to be spread. Both factions would certainly agree to hanging, beheading, or burning all the Heretics. Ajora was maybe dead... but his Church was not. Renard could only hope that he would be able to convince the others to plan in advance for their testimonies to prevent differing stories that might hurt their case.
Corail, the youngest member of the group, grasped the dagger she was holding... For whatever help this weapon would be if the Knights of the Holy-Office, the best equipped unit of the Ost, the elite of the elite, received orders to attack them... Several units of this order were positioned on the road linking the Gates of Lessaria to the Citadel and the cathedral within. This was not a good sign... But it was far too late to turn back now.
"We should have gone to Oversea," continued Renard while he was revising mentally the complex street layout of Lessaria, in case a fast getaway would be needed. But there was not a point in the city that was safe for them in the long run. Moreover, because of the rampaging urban crime, a good number of narrow streets were blocked by barricades and guard posts during the night, in the vain hope of controlling a little criminality... Those chokepoints would further limit their possibilities in time of serious crisis.
"Where could we have gone? The Inquisition has a long reach… In Rovannia, their power is such that they would find us in a short time… Same thing for Damaskia..."
"Not in Damaskia, however. Here, we would have problems like daggers in the back, poisoned food in the inns, and outrageously low pay for our skills, but no Inquisitors..."
Flora would have continued, but this was no longer the time…They had finally arrived at the gates of the Citadel where they had to abandon their mounts and, logically, most of their equipment, notably pieces of armor that they did not require for the trip. Renard and Flora believed that the average person had seen enough armored Humans, who were just as likely to pillage as they were to protect them. When they were the enemy in the past half-century, almost like right, they were reacting with a barely masked hostility when they were saw troops. As a result, their trip had been paradoxically shorter than the ones of others members of their group, especially fort the latest part: entering in battle armor in Lessaria was unthinkable, but entering the Citadel this way was even less plausible. ..
But, however, they had the right to keep personal weapons. It would have been hard to make them accept the convocation if they had to come to the Citadel disarmed. It was more a false security than anything else: if it was truly a trap, weapons or not, they were almost certainly doomed. After identifying themselves (the absence of visible reaction from the guards could be interpreted in either positive or negative way), they followed a soldier that would lead them to their apartments after the preliminary meeting. While Flora, Renard and Corail were at the front, the two last members of the group, Sapphire and Singleton, were at the "rearguard". The drawbridge was not raised immediately after their passage: this fact did not cheer up Renard at all. It would have been too obvious.
Along the way to the Citadel, he had noticed thirteen potential control points, that could be sealed in a few seconds. This was not considering the living control points, better than any gate or barricade: the legions of soldiers that were within the walls of Lessaria….
The room for the meeting was one of the great halls, where several "Heretics" were all ready having a somewhat heated (but not overly violent) discussion with several bishops and cardinals and a couple of Inquisitors. Some were making veiled threats of awful revelations. Of all the things to do, this was indisputably the worst (since there was a quite obvious method to make sure than people knowing dangerous secrets did not share them) The preliminary discussion Renard had hoped for was really out of question...
"Eh, little brother," said Flora to Renard, "I think it's starting quite bad…"
"I will only say one thing, Flora: those famous fifteen small minutes you have more than me, you seem to think they're fifteen years... It's a kinda reckless exaggeration, no?"
"Oh, but you recognize my seniority by changing color each time I speak of it...
(For Flora, like her twin brother Renard, the subject was a possibility of light-hearted jokes, even if they were quite sarcastic, in situations that were not funny at all, like the preceding war, or the present convocation. It did not worked very well this time)
That said, conforming to their traditions, the Inquisition dignitaries were not very hostile (in appearance, at least), saying loudly that "their only intention was to find the truth.'' A healthy dose of scepticism was needed for this sentence. It was very probable than the Inquisitors were sincere in saying it. It was sure that their conception of the truth was not the one that the "Heretics" would have... Renard and Flora, in opposition to many nobles' offspring (they were as "un-noble" as could be) had received an excellent general education and were currently recalling that Heresy came from Hairesis, a word meaning "choice" or "opinion" without any religious reference. This was somewhat relevant to their situation, as the core of the problem was that they have an opinion on Ajora not shared by the Church (small stuff! Only that he was the ultimate evil! There was certainly not much difference between that point of view and the one of the Church, where Ajora was seen as the Redemption of Humankind). Unfortunately, an opinion in dogmatic matter, especially when it was differing from the official one, was quite bad in those days. Asking if the Inquisition would accept true discussion on the actual nature of Ajora was a really rhetorical question: that would make themselves Heretics….
Renard had the stupid impression that all this would end in violence... Fortunately, the fact that no one in his group had played a first-rank role in the latest War spared them, for the time being, too much attention. All the attention was currently drawn by one woman, called by preachers the Heresiarch (this shameful title often backed by extremely aggressive terms, and basically what was open calls to murder her... Although the most heated-up fanatic would have strongly hesitated, eternal happiness in Afterlife or not, before attacking her, as this was almost certainly a death sentence...) but still admired by almost everyone for her courage, her skill, her intelligence. Her name was Agrias.
A bishop was currently talking to her, with a courtesy that was probably not all comedy. Her two faithful squires, Alice and Lavian, were at her side; ready to defend her if someone attacked the former Shrine Knight, although Agrias did not need protection. Renard recalled several fights (or all-out battles, for that matter) in which she fought against Human opponents (or not-so Human) with an extraordinary efficiency. Killing or capturing her would be a great feat. But with numbers, it was quite possible...
Soon after, the informal hearing was ended for today and the "supposed Heretics" were lead to their rooms that were unsurprisingly separated from one another. The whole idea of the deathtrap was looking more and more possible. And impossible to escape….
Renard had to insist not to let his small group be split up further. He was sure that separate rooms for each would not have been an honour. The demand was accepted. From sincere goodwill or by fear that too much insistence would raise new suspicion?
The room they received was vast, lavishly furnished, and (what a surprise) fitted with an extremely heavy door that could be very easily blocked... from both sides. Blocking it from their side would be like nailing themselves into their own coffins in case of trouble.
If this was a trap, what they need would be to get out, not defend their position. Sapphire, currently sat down on one of the beds, as conscious as the others of the risks of their current situation (as the lack of means of escaping said situation), proceeded to inventory her meager resources in Gil, something she did on a daily basis. Like all the other times, the result was extremely disappointing to her (with Sapphire, a barely visible modification of facial expression was a sign of great emotion. She was a bit cold, to the least). The whole mercenary trade was not usually very well paying, unless you had contacts, or you were on the high trade, the trade in which you were not selling your sword, but full armies. Renard and Flora had plenty to say on that subject.
Stuff like killing false gods and religions was certainly not bringing in a lot of money.
For various reasons, the four others members of the group did not really care about money, as long as they had enough to live. Unfortunately for Sapphire, the last months had been quite hard for the war chest, which was now at an all-time low. Her companions did know what to do. Renard and Flora knew her since the day of their group's formation. She certainly trusted the twins, yet she never said anything about her past. She was very "close" to her meager money, although it always disappeared quite fast for an unknown reason. Several attempts from Renard, Flora, Corail and Singleton for helping her with her finances were met by denial; the probable reason being that Sapphire preferred keeping the matter private, even if she had severe financial problems. It also seemed to affect her sensitively: her morale was always quite low, keeping her depressed.
That did not affect her remarkable capacities with a sword in various styles: the classical ones from the heavy Knighthood swords, the more recent ones using lighter swords like rapiers, and the stylish and deadly arts from the Far East. (Renard and Singleton, themselves, were somewhat skilled with firearms, while Flora was one of the finest Lessarian archers, Corail being exceptional in dagger-wielding but also with a bow. All of their gear was first grade, but "normal" compared to the numerous "magical" items found in the War of Ajora that was always going to the leaders-not that anyone in the small group really cared. The most magical thing about an enchanted weapon was how the price was high when you bought it and how low it would go when you tried to sell it.
Also, all the magic in the world did not seems to prevent weapons to break in a heated battle, which could be very embarrassing if the broken weapon was just a rusted axe.
Before going to sleep, they took an elementary security measure, organizing guard in shifts. but also keeping their weapons at arms length, although hidden to keep the servants that brought them their supper to sneak them away. For supper itself, Singleton assured that it was not "spiced" with any drug. His skills in this branch, but also the fact that he was more of a "gourmet" than the rest of the group, allowed the others to trust him fully on this matter. However, there was a far less hazardous method for knocking them off than opium or any other drug : the wine! For killing the reflexes and skills, this was a failsafe method. But the kitchens had not been very subtle by sending, for five persons, ten bottles of the better wines. Despite Singleton protests, who was saying that those wines were from both the finest years and vineyards of the whole Ivalice, and that the wax seals have never been tampered, not a single was touched, even less opened.
It was Flora who was on guard, when the alarm bells started around three o'clock in the morning, which was an extremely bad sign. Since what was ringed was the tocsin…the general alert ! And it was the bells from the great tower of the Cathedral that were ringing, not the ones from the smaller churches, that would have ring for small stuff such as fires, diseases outbreaks... The ones from the Cathedral were only rung for major perils like war declarations, treason (although at this point, Lessarians had started to be a bit sceptic as the said traitors were before everything else the enemies of the faction currently in possession of the Citadel)…or the presence in the Citadel of Heretics.
There were several very colorful expletives from the part of Flora about the King.
"You want war with us , you (a lot of unspeakable terms….) You got it !"
After screaming this, Flora did not lose time and promptly woke up the others, which was not very hard, since no one was sleeping very deeply or well. Detailed explanations were not necessary, especially when Flora tried to open the door, and it did not budge.
"Corail, the door is locked. Try to pick the lock, as quietly as you can."
Corail, who was the "thief" of the group, was hardly seventeen years old, with a very frail stature due to malnutrition in her younger years, took out her various lock-picking tools and began to "work" on the lock. She realized quickly that this was leading nowhere.
"Flora! Renard! They've placed the bars on the other side of the door! It won't open!"
Sapphire did not hesitate. She picked up her sword and thrusted it into the door. If she could carve a small hole in the door, they could remove the bar. Unfortunately, the door was twenty centimeters thick oak, which made it quite sturdy. It would have taken hours to cut it with an ill-fitted tool such as a sword and to add to this, the door was also reinforced with iron. Learning that, Corail, the undisputed specialist of those questions, judged that they would be lucky if they managed to make a hole in less than a few days. She had the impression that they were not going to have more than a few minutes….
"Should I try to destroy the hinges? They are quite heavy. It will take some time... at least an hour. Or if we're desperate, I could try to make a crude mine using some gunpowder? However, there are two slight problems: the first one is that we risk to be killed by splinters, and the second being that it's certainly going to get the attention of our hosts."
"I think that," Sapphire said quietly, "they are already expecting us to do something, discretion or not. That said, it could work…Let's be honest, we are probably not the priority targets-they will go for our leaders first….Maybe the bell, battle noises, and screams will hide the explosion... Anyway, we need to do something fast."
At this moment, they began to hear armored soldiers moving into the corridors, which really reduced their options to almost nothing. Not really hoping that this could be an escape route (the most brain dead enemy would have thought about that!), Singleton moved toward the window, to look at the courtyard beyond. It was depressing.
"Two ballistae are deployed in the courtyard, backed by a full company of crossbowmen with pavise shields. If we show up by the window, we will get transformed in hedgehogs very fast. (A short pause….) Hey, do you think it's time to try something that…"
Three "NO!" came from Flora, Corail, and Renard. Sapphire simply nodded her approval to their protestations. They knew all too well what Singleton was about to say: something in the lines of a "not too natural method," meaning a form or other of Magic.
Singleton having an irritating habit of considered himself a potential future Archmage (which was not AT ALL the case). Fortunately, his skills in the wide "science" known as alchemy was more than compensation for that….Singleton wisely stuck to stuff that worked, such as purifying naphtha for flaming arrows (that could be used without immolating yourself…) making plant extracts, and the like. Not trying to find the Philosophical stone. That said, he had at least acquired some theoretic knowledge about the various forms of Magic and could provide the others with a good idea of what an enemy mage or priest was about to unleash of them. It was really useful in battles.
Several war cries were heard from the courtyard. It was the others "heretics": Renard recognized several of the voices. The fighting seemed to be quite intense. It was going to be very, very, very costly battle for the attackers... However, there was not the slightest bit of doubt about the upcoming. The peacetime garrison of the Citadel was between 2000-2500 soldiers, including some bad soldiers, but also a few elite units. This force was already reinforced by the units that the King brought with him…And those numbers could still increase, thanks to the various barracks within the walls of Lessaria. In consequence, staying in the Citadel was nothing less than a death sentence.
Renard tried to remember the general layout of the citadel. Their room was in a maze of relatively small rooms, made out of huge apartments cut down by walls of light masonry (considerably lighter, anyway, than the almost meter tight outer walls). Unfortunately, their room was in an angle, meaning that two walls out of four were in the heavy masonry. The third one was the hallway wall. But the fourth one was separating them from another similar room that was empty! The problem was that the door led to the same hallway that would be still patrolled by guards until the Inquisition decided to assault…
There was a hope, however. Ten rooms down in the hallway, there was a guard post. It was presumably fitted with a crude, but efficient, security system of the Lessarian Citadel. Because of the staggering number of Kings, Queens, bishops, dignitaries that have fallen due to various plots and conspiracies (Nobles from the highest rank, having most of the time nothing to do, seemed often to do more plotting than breathing. This could be from relatively entertaining things, such as the dreaded feuds about ranks and "etiquette" to plots of the magnitude of the false Zodiac Legend). Most hallways of the Citadel could be blocked by very heavy portcullis, in the hope of blocking rebels long enough for reinforcement to come. Once the portcullis was released, it took hours, because of their sheer weight, to open them (while it took only a few seconds to release them). If they reached the guard post and managed to dispatch the guards without alerting the troops in the hallway; then, drop the portcullis, they could at least leave this level…Ir was probable that the troops were not as numerous in the rest of the castle…
Renard was pretty sure that there was no others "Heretics" in the sector and he really hoped that he was right, since releasing the portcullis would trap them too, with the troops. That short term plan would be a starting point for getting out of this trap. Long term plans would be laid out later, outside of the Citadel, and if possible out of Lessaria.
The person that would release the portcullis was obvious: Corail, whose small height and stature were very appropriate. She would only a small opening in each wall to squeeze through to reach the guard post. She took out her dagger, and started to dislodge bricks. The cement was relatively soft, and the work progressed quickly. During that time, Flora and Renard were busy screaming various insults at the intention of the Inquisitors, the guards, the King, and generally anyone within hearing range. This had a double advantage: it drowned the noise Corail was making, and it could persuade their enemies that they were merely standing in their room, preparing themselves as best as they could for the assault, basically about to make a death stand, no thinking about escape.
When the attack came, the door swung wide open at the first hit of the ram the attackers brought with them: the "Heretics" had not blocked the door on their side. They had however made a small barricade using the available furniture. The attention of the guards was drawn toward the barricade; not toward the nearly invisible wire that have been laid out just past the door. The first two attackers collapsed when they charged over it. With the total darkness of the room, (for covering the hole made in the wall) this leads to great confusion among the attackers, especially when Singleton and Renard retaliated using their firearms, and Flora her longbow. The officer, noting that the assault had really a bad start, ordered a withdrawal. The enemy left on the room two dead, but also two wounded soldiers that Sapphire knocked down using the handgrip on her long sword.
When a relative calm had returned, Flora and Renard noted that the Enemy had a recon sign: a white armband. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the room that could be used for making minimally credible armbands and the ones on the enemy soldiers would not be very credible, as there were currently red stains on them. Noting that two of her soldiers were missing, the female officer in charge of the assault, really caring for them and fearing that in despair the Heretics would kill them, tried to discuss with Renard.
"Don't do something stupid!" She shouted from the hallway. "Killing those soldiers will bring you nothing! I...I cannot promise that showing mercy is going to help you at your trial for Heresy, that would be a lie, but killing them will certainly not help your case!"
In other times, Renard would have certainly had sympathy for the officer. However, the current circumstances were a bit inappropriate for offer her a cup of tea... But as she was valuing the life of her soldiers, her involuntary help could be very precious. She would hesitate before launching a second attack; that could end quite bad, as the Heretics had nothing to lose. This could give enough time to Corail for succeed in her task.
She had managed to succeed. The guard post was a small room "defended" by what was clearly not the elite of the Citadel garrison. The good soldiers were already engaged, or guarding the key points of the Citadel like the gates, the Throne Room, or the Chapel. The fighting was really, really intense, but, mostly, it ended like Renard had predicted. Sure, many of the veterans of the War of Ajora did go down fighting, some in a truly spectacular way, but they still went down. One of the most spectacular fights involved Meliadoul, who tried to reach the Chapel for expressing (with her sword) her feelings about this outrageous treachery to the leading Church official in Lessaria, Cardinal Caetan. The Cardinal had twenty guards with him, just in case of a similar accident…
Meliadoul's swordplay alone had reduced this number to three, when archers sent in reinforcements had transformed her into a hedgehog. She was still conscious when Caetan, shaking from the precedent encounter, ordered his reining guards to immobilize her while he was brought his heavy staff down on her face. When a still living Meliadoul was sent to her cell, for await execution/interrogation, battle hardened veterans were deeply shocked by the mere sight. She was basically without Human features, right now.
It was a heroic way of getting captured. Sure, but seventeen guards killed or not; it was Caetan the winner and he would get away of this with a harsh upbraiding from the Inquisition, who knew that a disfigured accused (especially one that was quite pretty before their arrest) would give them a bad reputation. But this would cost Meliadoul her life even if she miraculously avoided death; she would never have a normal life. As she was making her way to the guard post, Corail was determined not to share that end. Living for fighting (and winning) another day was probably the best option.
Corail opened the last door to the guard post a few centimeters in perfect silence, to prevent raising attention. Using a small mirror to not expose herself, she looked down the hallway. Perfect. They were the only "Heretic" group in this hallway, but not on this level, and the sounds from a frantic battle were audible from the guard post, making the guards quite nervous. And prone to panic if they were surprise attacked.
But Corail had to dispatch them quickly. Although the hallway made an angle (hiding the guard post from the elite group trying to get them back at their chamber), the two points were quite close and if she did something wrong, reinforcements would arrive extremely fast, pinning her in place. A few seconds later, the guards noticed a thumping noise made by a small black object that just landed on their table. They all got up from their chairs, drew their swords and were covered by wood splinters after a loud explosion that created a sizable hole in the table. It was followed by smoke. This was too much for mere recruits. Following their orders to the letter, they withdrew and tried to reach the nearest elite reserve unit (the King was not dumb, and was not wasting the lives of his soldiers. For instance, sending recruits against Agrias was clearly suicide.), that had unfortunately already been sent in reinforcement. They would not come back for some time…
Corail estimated that she had around five minutes at most to complete her task. As she moved into the room, she noted that her weapon, one of those new things developed into the Fifty Years War, a "grenade" had done quite minimal damage. The psychological effect was out of proportion with the actual damage. She had just one of them. She would be in deep trouble in the guards came back, or if someone in the hallway had heard something. Anyway, releasing the portcullis correctly would be easy. One of the portcullis was mere meters from their room, in the opposite direction than the guard post. Releasing it would either cut the guards from their reinforcements or, if lucky, would divide them in small groups, allowing Renard and the others a slightly easier task….
Corail was about to perform her task when she noticed some movement out of the corner of her eyes. Corail cursed herself mentally. There was also an officer in the room, in a dark corner, visibly asleep at the moment she launched her attack. But wearing armor, and certainly much stronger than her. She had left her longbow in the other room. In normal combat, killing him with only a dagger would be very hard, but possible.
"You could just pretend," she said calmly, "that you never saw me, and resume sleeping."
"Yes," said the man to the astonishment of Corail "...I could say that...if..."
Corail thought for a moment that she had managed to pull out a kind of mind trick until she noticed, with horror, the way the man was looking at her. What he wanted was clear.
The way Corail took her dagger was also a very, very clear way to answer.
The obscene smile faded, but he was still very was not much a threat for him. The man was, judging by his insignia and his coat-of-arms, a Noble (this kind of behaviour was also very typical of a noble, Corail thought with pure rage).
"Last chance," said Corail very seriously. "Ignore me or face the consequences."
"YOU ask me to surrender, peasant girl? Soon, you are going to beg me to kill you!"
The train of thought of the noble was also extremely clear: he had a golden chance to capture alone (or kill by "accident") a Heretic... A female Heretic. A very pretty female Heretic. The kind of victim that no one would care about or that could be killed without trouble after... The second hypothesis was certainly the one he chose.
Corail dropped her dagger and backed herself against a wall, looking terrorized. The Noble grinned, visibly enjoying her apparent fear. He did not think that this way, Corail was shielding her hands from his eyes. Her hands, and the wire previously twisted around her left arm, were currently ready to be used against the Noble if he came too close...
But the Noble finally nailed his own coffin shut by his last sentence...
"If you don't scream, I may look the other way long enough for you to flee."
Corail was a very gentle person, and she hated to kill. She hated it almost as much as the Nobles, probably more. Her basic plan when she had saw the Noble was to distract him just long enough with her demand to "simply look away" (no one would have accepted to do that, with the Inquisition) for an opportunity to come close to him and then pass her wire around his neck, squeeze it until he collapsed and let him live. But in the current situation, this plan was somewhat revised. A flash from her past came back to her that made her clench her fists. That Noble bastard (Bastard was usually a term that angered Nobles a lot, because all their rights came from their supposedly glorious ancestors.
The fact that it made Nobles furious was the first reason why Corail always used this insult.) would not get out of this with his live. Corail said, in a barely audible voice, the name that had been triggered in her memory: "Lysithea..." The Noble could not understand and would not have cared if he knew who Lysithea was. He did not notice that the eyes of Corail were not showing the slightest bit of fear when he approached her.
Dropping the wire, Corail tried to push the noble away. More exactly, she did something that looked as she was trying to push him away, to cover her true action. The Noble, now mere centimeters away from her, grabbed her right wrist as Corail was attempting to strike him one more time, laughing. It was at this moment that he noticed that something was wrong, as there was now an indisputable thin smile of victory on the lips of Corail. He never realized it until it was too late that Corail had unsheathed his own sword with her left hand, and was silently raising to his back, while drawing his attention.
A few seconds later, Corail was trying to remove all the blood that she received on her face - she was much smaller than the Noble, and his neck was basically at her eye level. She was not very skilled with large swords, such as the broad one used by the Noble, and while extremely effective, her strike was not really surgical. In fact, it was quite a mess...There was a water tank nearby for collecting rain water (In the hope, though not often realized, that if guards had drinkable water at their possession, they would be less drunk when on duty.) No longer caring about the Noble, who was not dead (although he would be in a few minutes), she took two minutes to clean herself and her upper clothes
Showing up like that would raise questions from Flora and Renard, but also from the average Lessarian) It was at this time that she noticed an injury. The Noble had grasped her wrist so brutally that it had been severely bruised, to the point that she was slightly bleeding. This triggered her to say a sentence that was quite appropriate.
"You really think right now that the blood of the Nobles is different from the blood of others Humans? (This was a reference to the constant allusions by Nobles to their bloodlines, to their pride) Me, I'm pretty sure that it's the same thing, y' know?"
The Noble maybe heard the sentence, but he was no longer capable of answering. Corail released the portcullis and left the room in a hurry to assist her friends.
Her friends were lucky for once. The portcullis divided in two the group trying to get them and cut off the possibility of reinforcements. The handful of soldiers in the hallway section under "Heretic" control did their best, but were quickly killed, too badly injured to continue fighting, or stunned. The officer had to watch as her targets escaped. One of the archers with her fired an arrow. It clipped against one of the bars of the portcullis. The female "Heretic" archer noticed that, and with a single shot of her longbow, make everyone dive for cover as her arrow, a plain light arrow, not even a bodkin heavy arrow or one of the specialized one for cutting ropes, stunning opponents, actually cut the string of the bow that just have been used. This feat discouraged every attacker with a ranged weapon to try a duel with her. The portcullis weighting several tons (It was made as heavy as possible. It took machinery and hours to put it back in position), the officer ordered to pursue them by using others hallways. As the Citadel was a military building, all her construction was geared toward defense meaning, the number of access ways to the different sectors were limited. It would take a lot of time to resume the pursuit.
During that time, some dignitaries of the Church (the Inquisitor attached to the group was with the officer and her soldiers) and some Nobles decided to search the room for "compromising documents." The probability that someone was insane enough to bring within the Inquisition's reach writings of Heretic nature was quite low (What did they expect? That Renard had in his luggage a copy of the Germonik Scriptures?) But this search had the advantage keeping them off the battle lines. Unfortunately, there was a very basic trap laid as departure gift from Flora and Renard. It was the good old "curtains-that-have-been-torn-and-laid-out-as-a-getaway-rope" routine. Intrigued, one of the Nobles went to the window, to seeing if there was nothing compromising attached to the rope. A few seconds later, seen by a sentry in the courtyard, he received a three meters long bolt from one of the ballista in the thorax. He would have congratulated the ballista crew for its really remarkable precision, if that shot did not killed it on the spot. It was spectacular in a way, pinning him on one of the wall with tremendous strength.
The "Heretics" were at this time were several hundred meters from this position, trying to reach a secondary gate of the Citadel while avoiding both regular patrols and guard posts, but also the various hunting groups sent in their pursuit. What was predictable arrived quite fast. As Renard and his group were readying for a surprise assault on a guard post that commanded one of the few staircases available for leaving the level (this post was heavily guarded, unlike the other: there was several Knights of the Holy Office in their ranks.) a hunting detachment localized them, and immediately proceeded to the attack.
Although the group managed to block the nearest door, preventing their new enemies to attack them directly, they were pinned down, and surrounded. The hunting group quickly began to ram the door with a bench. It would hold for minutes, at the very best…
Renard heard the Inquisitor leading this hunting group giving orders for the assault. The problem was simple: each of the two enemy groups was strong enough to kill them all. And those groups were bound to combine their strengths within minutes…
"Let's stay calm", said Renard. "Our only chance is trying a bluff, to the death!"
Some time later, as the door behind them have started to crack under the relentless assault of the enemy, Renard and his group busted into the guard post, weapons in hand, but did not use them. Renard spoke to the astonished guards (that had already grabbed their own weapons, and were ready to use them) in a very commanding tone.
"In the name of Ajora, follow us! Quickly, heretics are trying to escape by using an infamous scheme! They have managed to take armbands from dead soldiers! The new recon sign must be a green armband, like this one (that Renard had torn from a curtain for himself and the others)! Be cautious: one of them have dared to disguise himself as an Inquisitor. What criminal audacity! And those cowards are on this level, probably coming right here to gain access to lower zones! We managed to lock them in the room behind us, but that will not hold them long! Come at once take position with us!"
Several guards did not look convinced, but some did. The usual persuasion of Renard, the total lack of uniformity in the gear of the Lessarian army (the only standardized gear was ceremonial only) made his statement credible. No Heretic would be insane enough to try something that risky, no? The fact that most of the guards trusted the newcomers was enough for the others to follow their example, especially when the said newcomers split up. Flora and Corail stayed in the post with some guards, to act as a sort of rearguard, while the three others moved with the guards to take up defensive positions…
Fearing the consequences if they let go a single Heretic, the enemy soldiers from both sides of the doors, when it was finally destroyed, acted in a way that was indisputably very foolish. They attacked each other immediately without taking the time necessary to realize that they had been fooled. By a rather provoked turn of events, the Inquisitor in the hunting group received two bullets in the first few seconds of the battle and was promptly finished by a perfectly executed sword strike by Sapphire.
With the only enemy with enough authority to stop this fight dead, it was very probable that the battle would end with the decimation of both sides (the secrecy of the King was playing against him. The elite units he brought for the capture of the Heretics came from all over Ivalice and the soldiers had been briefed on their objectives in separate groups, which meant they did not know each other.) More numerous, helped by Renard, Singleton and Sapphire, and in a defensive position, the soldiers from the guard post had a noted advantage. When they heard alarmed screams from their colleagues left behind (they were being methodically put out of fight by Flora and Corail), screams whose meaning was hidden by exclamations of rage against the Heretics made by the pair, Renard had not much trouble to convince them that they were attacked in the rear by traitors. Two of the three remaining Knights agreed to come back to the post with him, to help repelling this new attack. When they arrived, Flora and Corail, their longbows fitted with the dreaded anti-armor arrows were in perfect position. At almost point blank range, such projectiles were deadly. The Knights did not even have the time to say "Treason."
Some time after, Singleton and Sapphire, who had slowly withdrawn to not get attention, arrived and the whole group quietly and quickly left the level. When he left the area, Renard had the satisfaction of hearing the two groups of enemies continue the battle, mutually insulting themselves with the words "Heretics" and "Traitors," not realizing that the ones they should hunt were escaping. But with an entity like Ajora, how to be surprised about the dubious quality of some of his followers ?
He and Flora were actually having more sympathy for Celia and Lede, the two assistants of Marquis Elmdor, later for their probable true master, Ajora. At least, the pair was only trying to kill them! While Ajora tried to do something far worse to Alma…
Flora's nights were still haunted by the desperate screams of terror and anguish from that girl when, Ajora tried unsuccessfully to possess her in Muron. She was shivering whenever she thought about it...
