Chapter 5 - Rouen

The hunting party arrived at Rouen's cathedral as its bells sung the call for the morning mass. As the lizard in command noticed on his way in, the atmosphere inside the hall was grim, even sorrowful. Human and rodents alike were chanting in unison a prayer, over and over, to the lord in the high. A desperate plea for protection against the entity that caused the strange event on the outskirts of that nearby village, Saint Pierre, three days ago. For they were certain that whoever commanded the elements of fire and snow in the middle of an August's night, was still there, perhaps in the forest, perhaps inside the city…

Patrick gazed over his shoulder at Chip who was being dragged along in chains. "Can you hear it, ranger Maplewood? The fear that raises at the end of these chants? You are to blame for it. You and that blonde witch! Our people doesn't stop talking about the apparition in Saint Pierre three nights ago and its outcome"

Embarrassed, Chip turned his head away.

"The Outcome" The captain mulled over that word. "After our clash of swords I spent the rest of the night standing still in the middle of that cold cemetery, struggling to move the muscles of my face, unable to yell for help!"

The harsh tone and the killing stare Patrick gave to his prisoner sent shivers down his entire troop's spines. Monterey and Zipper included.

"However!" He continued as he arrived at the inner rodent corridors, well hidden beneath the walls. "The spell faded with the first ray of morning light, just as the witch said. I was lucky, didn't I? I mean, she could have turned me to stone permanently, like what she did to Julien"

"Gadget didn't do such thing!" The ranger dared to reply. "It was her twin sister, Lawhinie! Come on, Monterey, tell him!"

"Aye well, the wee one is right, boss. There were two witches roaming Saint Pierre that night"

Patrick raised his scaly paw to order silence to the mercenary, then addressed the prisoner again. "Ah yes, the rumor of a second witch… and an evil twin sister, nonetheless! Ranger Maplewood, you better save these tales for the prosecutor. If you amuse him enough, He might be merciful and change the stake for the gallows"

Chip's expression then turned grave. "You make it sound as if I've been already declared guilty"

"Pretty much" The captain said as he saluted a pair of inquisition wardens. Minutes later, the group got to the lowest level of the rodent inquisition building: the prison. "Indeed, your public execution would bring some relief to the people in the whole region. Poor commoners, they can barely sleep since the night they saw you flying in a broomstick together with that blonde witch"

On command, Monterey Jack unshackled the prisoner, then violently pushed him inside the dampest, filthiest cell available. Chip fell inside rolling on his shoulder grunting and wincing.

The door was slammed shut and locked by Patrick, who then raised his paws and placed them over the wooden frame, leaning on it. He let out a tired sigh and spoke-hissed again. "Your witch – or witches – are still out there in the forest. My soldiers and I will come back there as soon as we gather provisions. It's been a while, since the Rouen garrison had to hunt a real spell caster like your companion Gadget Hackwrench. But hey, God is on our side, right? Don't worry, ranger; I'll capture all of them so you will have some company in hell. I swear it!"

A while later, the surviving squad assembled again in the cathedral's garden. Monterey Jack and Zipper again among them. The mice soldiers were exhausted, demoralized and some outright traumatized from the supernatural events they had been part of. Verily, in front of the reptilian captain stood only mere shadows of the proud and confident musketeers that had marched to Saint Pierre not a week before.

"Attention!" A sergeant with bandages on his head ordered as Patrick climbed on a rock.

"Stand at ease, soldiers!" He began his speech. "I'll be brief, even blunt, to you. Our mission is not over yet. You and I know very well that the witch that burned alive twelve of our comrades is still at large. Sooner than later we ought to head back to the forest and resume our hunt!"

The gathered soldiers received these words with somberness. Even Monterey Jack, who was always eager for action, this time slumped his shoulders down. A dreadful feeling seized the hearts of each of the soldiers that had barely survived to the inferno in Saint Pierre.

The blue lizard read the mood in the air and, surprisingly, conceded. "You will leave on leisure for today. We will depart tomorrow with the first morning light. Dismissed!"

Everybody around let out muffled signs of relief and parted away. Some went straight to their homes and family, while others went straight inside of the cathedral to join the chants, prayers and calls for divine protection.

The pair of mercenaries had just turned around when Patrick got to them again. "Sir Monterey Jack, a word with you before you leave, If I may"

"O' course, cap'n!"

"Follow me inside, please"

Zipper landed again on his friend's shoulder. "Am I required as well?"

"No, sir Zipper… You are free to leave"

"Go and have some rest, pally… We'll meet again tomorrow morning"

"Until tomorrow? Why?" The scout fly buzzed quizzically, then his eyes lit with the answer to his own question. "Oooh, I get it!"

After a wink and a wave of goodbye, the burly mouse followed the lizard back into the crevices of the cathedral and into an inner shrine where a pair of voles in rich scarlet robes and black capes, along with an old field mouse dressed in humbler priest robes, were waiting. Monterey Jack recognized the voles as part of the Rouen inquisition office. The mouse, on the other side, was a stranger to him.

He had no chance to ponder about the old mouse's origins, though, as his breath was taken away by the sight of the lifeless statue of Julien Montblanc that stood behind the clergy rodents.

"Crikey! Is that Julien Montblanc?"

"In his full stone splendor" Patrick joked as he walked towards it. A joke that nobody else in the room seemed to appreciate. "He was brought here on the morning after the incident, while you were hiding away in the company of these devil worshippers"

The inquisitor's disapproving gazes made Monterey feel uneasy. On the other side, the old priest's eyes sent signs of nothing but deep sadness.

Patrick didn't give his brazen comment any more importance. He instead placed his paw on the statue's forehead -which gave Monterey a flashing bad memory- and turned around towards the knight. "So, two witches, huh?"

"Aye, sir!" The knight stood firm and squared his shoulders. "As I wrote on my report"

"And are you completely certain that it was this second witch, Lawhinie, who killed my soldiers and turned priest Julien into stone?"

"Absolutely! If only you had been there, sir! It was the most frightening thing these eyes o'mine have ever witnessed! The gal was truly evil incarnated!"

"Excuse me, Sir" One of the voles raised his paw. "Did you just say, 'Lawhinie'?"

"Aye! Lawhinie Hackwrench, twin sister of Gadget Hackwrench"

"That foreign exotic name, I recall I overheard it once at the headquarters in Paris. The priest who uttered it was promptly reprimanded by our brother Julien. It was most curious"

Monterey Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Now that you mention it… Julien seemed to know her from before"

The captain, along with the priests, gasped in unison. "That was nowhere in your report! Explain yourself!"

"I… I don't know. Everything around was blurred with smoke and ashes, and I was busy looking for survivors of the sudden explosion but… I'm quite sure I overheard Julien acknowledging that witch and then arguing with her about the book"

"Book?" Patrick looked genuinely surprised. "What book?"

"A grimoire, Sir! Lawhinie herself later told us Julien was in cahoots with this demon called Mephisto, and had intentions to deliver the book to him"

Here everybody lost their mind. "What book are you talking about? Julien and a demon? Impossible! Do you have any idea how many witches has he sent to the stake?"

"I… I'm just retelling what the witches told me!"

"Enough!" The lizard captain demanded, then walked back to open the door. "We've heard enough, Sir Monterey. Leave us to ponder on these matters. You are to rejoin the company tomorrow morning as planned. Understood?"

"Understood, cap'n!" The knight saluted and left the room. the door was almost slammed on his face.

The clergymice were now troubled, to say the least. By the time Patrick rejoined them, the vole inquisitors were busy convincing themselves of his fallen comrade's virtues. "Outrageous accusations! Montblanc was the best witch hunter in France! A role model here and beyond the borders!"

"A role model?" The old mouse in the back chimed in. "Did you ever were on a hunt with him?"

"Brother Louis!" One of the inquisitors exclaimed. "What are you insinuating?"

Louis LaFountaine, appointed priest of Saint Pierre, raised his paw calling for patience. "Pardon me, high priest Corentin, all I say is that Julien Montblanc struck me as a cruel fellow… sadistic, even"

"Sadistic? Do you have any idea who the inquisition deals with?"

"Oh, I have! Back in Saint Pierre Julien arrested and caged a teenager squirrel over the book that knight just mentioned!"

But the leader of Rouen's inquisitorial office wasn't eager to show any ounce of sympathy. "Yes he did, but as the good captain's own report stated. Tammy Lombardi is the daughter of a witch. That makes her a suspect of witchcraft as well. If she was indeed hiding a grimoire of black magic, then brother Julien made well in arrest her"

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" The second inquisitor declared solemnly. "Exodus 22:18"

Louis sighed. He knew better than to argue with bible-quoting inquisitors. Instead, he shook his head, took his leave and walked out the shrine. At the very door he turned around and confronted the inquisitors one last time. "You sure follow the bible to the letter, brother Bonnet. However, shouldn't these rules apply to your own men?

Upon stares filled with animosity, he explained. "A inquisitor working with a witch. Even if it's a rumor, it's worth to investigate, don't you agree? Besides, the way Julien could disclose hidden intentions and thoughts, to the point of accusing people of witchcraft just by staring at them is nothing less than unnatural. Now, if you excuse me, I feel like joining the mass on the other side of the wall and ask our holy father for strength and wisdom. I'm certain we will need his mercy and support in the days to come"

Once Louis left, the mood in the room became darker. "The nerve of some low-rank priests from the wilds! Not only to put in doubt the integrity and devotion of brother Julien, but also to doubt the work of God on his gifted eyes!"

"Agreed, brother! Were not for him and his sixth sense, Rouen and Paris would be infested by now by witches and ghouls hiding in plain sight as pious rodents"

Patrick kept silence during these rounds of eulogies, brooding over one detail his contractors were leaving aside. "Why didn't Julien told me about that book?"

A while later, in the poorest quarter of Rouen, the one infested with rodents and stray animals, Monterey Jack knocked at the door of a mercer shop, which was strangely closed at that hour of the day. "Hello, anybody there?"

"Lord Jack!" A croaky voice answered from inside. "Oh joyful day!" Come in, come in!"

As soon as he walked into the store, Monterey was greeted by Bernard D'Allure, a brown, short and plump mouse dressed in plain brown coat and white shirt. "It is you indeed! You have returned!"

"Of course I did, monsieur D'Allure!" The knight twirled his moustache and assumed a proud heroic stance. "Why wouldn't the mightiest mouse of all Scotland return home alive and victorious?"

"Why, my lord?" Because of the blonde witch of Saint Pierre!" The plump merchant trembled at the mention of these last five words. "The whole country doesn't stop talking about her!"

Then, he leaned and whispered to Monterey's ear. "Musketeers returning from the field also called you a traitor, fleeing with the witch and her companions and spending some nights with them in the depths of the forests"

The knight gasped outraged. "Me? Nonsense! I didn't 'flee' with them. I merely followed them for a day or two, always keeping enough distance as to not taint myself with their foul traits and behaviors. I promise you, my reputation as a virtuous hero is safe and as clean as always"

"What a relief! I knew these words were just baseless gossip!"

Suddenly, Monterey's face grew serious. "Has… Has your daughter heed attention to these rumors about me?"

"Desiree? Couldn't say, she's been away for days on a business travel"

"Oh excellent" Monterey let out a sigh of relief. "And when will my fair maiden come back home?"

"Couldn't say either" The old mouse shrugged as he invited his guest to sit at the table. "She rarely consults me about business and dealings anymore. I would protest, but Desiree keeps coming back home with bags of gold on one paw and ancient treasures in the other paw. She's got an eye for riches, that girl. A real D'Allure merchant!"

Bernard poured some fine belgian wine on a pair of wooden cups and shared one to Monterey. The Scottish mouse drank it, fidgeted with the cup some seconds, then placed it on the table again. All of this done with his mood turning pensive, wondering if her beloved Desiree would be satisfied enough with a quiet life in Scotland, once they got married. Scotland, where the land is not as rich or filled with business opportunities as Normandy. He also wondered, this time biting his lips, if choosing Desiree's approval over Tammy's wellbeing had been the right thing to do. Now, he could only hope the squirrel teenager had found a safe place to hide.

The troubled knight got ahold of the wine bottle and, to the amused expression of his future father-in-law, emptied it in a single gulp.