Author note: happy holidays my dearest readers! My best wishes for 2023 to be kinder to us all than 2022 was! ^ᴥ^
oxoxoxoxoxo
While walking through the forest, Anomen fell into step with Ulric, hoping to learn more about his new travelling companions, "Say, Ulric, are all of you knights?". The bishop's envoy shook his head, "No, I am the only one among us. Wolfstan, Ivo, Griff and Swire were in the army and are currently mercenaries in the service of the Church and Mold has always been a sword for hire". "What about Dalywag?". He kept his gaze firmly on the road ahead, "He is a torturer", he said flatly.
The Helmite stopped abruptly, as thought he had slammed into an invisible wall, then he quickly caught up with the other man, "What in the name of all that is sacred do you need him for?". Ulric shot him a brief sidelong glance, "How else are we supposed to get a confession out of the witch?". "But...You are a knight! You can't allow this...This...", Anomen made a helpless gesture, unable to find the words to properly describe such horror.
"The bishop ordered me to take him along and I did", the terrestrial knight replied, his voice calm and cold, "Besides, a witch would never admit consorting with the Devil unless she was forced to". "But an innocent would confess anything only to put an end to the pain!", the Helmite protested, "There are other ways to...". "There is no other way!", Ulric snapped, eyes flashing, "Do you think I would accept this kind of methods, if there were an alternative? Besides, I do not send anyone to interrogation without evidence".
"But there are...", Anomen bit his tongue, as he suddenly remembered that mentioning mind-reading spells would not be a good idea in the current circumstances, "There is a chance that you would end up killing an innocent". The other man pressed his lips in a thin line, "If they are truly innocent, then God will reward them in the afterlife". "But you should protect the innocents and save their lives: it's your duty as a knight!".
"There are times when you simply cannot save them!", Ulric shot back, his hands closing into tight fists, "Let me tell you something: yesterday we met a group of people, who had tied a woman at the stake. They were ready to burn her as a witch, accusing her of poisoning their well and bringing death to their village. She was innocent, that much was clear to me, so I tried talking to them, but those ignorant fools refused to see reason. I had no choice but to cut the ropes binding her and slit her throat". "You...You killedher? Why?".
"Because she was already dead: had I let her go, the mob would have held her again and burned her. I spared her suffering", his usually hard voice softened and his wide shoulders slumped a tiny fraction as he looked tired and bitter, "Sometimes that is all you can do". The Helmite opened his mouth to reply, but the terrestrial knight cut him off, his tone once again sharp and cold. "These are difficult times, Anomen: God is loosening His grip on the flock and we have the sacred duty to make sure that our people do not look for answers beside Him and the Church. We cannot afford to be too indulgent".
Meanwhile, Jan slipped at the end of the line to take a closer look at the cage fixed on the back of the cart: it was made of flat iron bars and it was big and tall enough to contain a medium-sized Human, but the thing that attracted his attention the most was the sharp blade imbedded perpendicularly in it, at roughly one foot from its floor. Try as he might, the Gnome couldn't find a good reason for that, so he turned to Dalywag, who walked closer to him, "Hey, Dals, what's that blade for?".
The man's lips curved in a disturbingly wide smile, "Aaah, I'm glad you asked! Come, come, I'll show you!", he grabbed a lever protruding from the right side of the cage and gleefully turned it, making the blade slide upwards, "This beauty can split up a man from his asshole to his head! Lovely, isn't it? I can't wait to put the necromancer in here and hear his screams...". Poor Jan blanched and started sweating profusely, "Uh, that, eh, that's very...Interesting, really. Thanks for showing me. I...I-I think Sammy's calling me, sorry", he stammered, practically running forward and tucking himself closely to Sekhmet's side, "Holy turnips, that guy makes even uncle Gerhardt seem sane!".
Swire laughed at seeing him so pale and shaken, "Oy, don't worry, Jan, Dalywag is not that bad. Sure, he's a torturer and if the rumours are true, also a thief, a murderer and a rapist. But apart from that, he's a good man", he said, adjusting his small circular shield more comfortably on his shoulders. "Oh, well, that's reassuring", the Gnome commented glumly. The Firewalker gave him a comforting pat on the back, "There, there, you at least are risking only your life. Unless that guy likes men?", she turned to Swire and the man laughed again. "Ha, no, he likes women. Especially those who fight back, from what I've been told".
"Oh, really? Good for him, then, because if he tries to even lift a finger against me, I'll reduce him to a pile of ashes before he can blink". "And how would you do that?". "I just have to call upon my Lord and He will grant me the strength I need to solve the matter". The mercenary shook his head, "Many others have done so before and it had always been in vain", he commented, making a wide gesture with his arm to indicate the surroundings, "Do you think the plague would still be here, taking hundreds of lives every single day, if prayers were of any use?".
"He always answers my calls!", she snapped, eyes flashing angrily, "And you'd better watch your tongue when speaking of Him, boy, for I will not tolerate your disrespect of Him!". Swire blinked, taken aback by her outburst, "All right, sorry, I didn't mean to offend", he apologized, raising his hands defensively, then he suddenly smirked, "Oy, you know, I think you would be a good match for Ulric, with all that fire and religious zeal". Sekhmet started and a blush spread on her olive-skinned cheeks as she instinctively shot a glance at the terrestrial knight, "What...I-I...Oh, just shut up! (Brainless lesser simian)", she muttered under her breath without realizing it, then she hurried forward, with Jan following her closely.
oxoxoxoxoxo
At noon, they decided to stop for lunch and while Margaret Dawn prepared the vegetable stew, Sekhmet knelt a bit away from the others, her head bowed and her pendant held in her hands. Ulric frowned, "What is she doing?", he asked Sarevok, who sat at his left. "She is praying before the midday meal, as she always does", the Deathbringer answered with a shrug. "Always, you say? She must be very devoted, then".
He snorted, "I'd say she's a little too devoted sometimes: her religious zeal has caused us many a fight that could be avoided otherwise...Though I partly blame it on her Odesseiron blood: she's just as sharp-tongued, short-tempered and stubborn as her cousin, only more pleasant to look at". "Sometimes even the people of faith must resort to violence". "I know, my sister and my brother-in-law are both members of religious orders and yet, they've shed more blood than most mercenaries I've met".
Anomen nodded with a sigh, "Sad, but true. I regret having been forced to kill, but we were left without a choice in the matter". Ulric blinked, "Wait a moment: how can you be married, if you both belong to a religious order? Did you break your vows of celibacy?", he asked, his voice suddenly gaining an edge. "We didn't take any such vow", the Helmite shook his head, "Both Meg and myself are clerics, not monks". "Clerics?".
"Holy healers", Meg explained, "We were trained to heal and care for the injured and the sick, to know the properties of the herbs and how to make good use of them. Our orders do not require us to be celibate, or chaste for that matter", she added, sharing a private smile with her husband, "Our union was blessed in the name of the Lord we are devoted to. So you see, our marriage doesn't break any rule".
The terrestrial knight nodded, "Ah, I understand now: you are both laymen". "I guess you could say that, if that's what those like us are called in this place. Oh, about time!", the Ilmatari smiled as she saw Sekhmet approach, "We were starving here, waiting for you".
The Thayan rolled her eyes, "Well, there was no need for you to wait for me and I didn't ask you to, did I? So keep your useless complaints for yourself and pour me some stew, before I starve for real", she replied, tapping her spoon on the rim of her bowl. Sarevok smirked and nudged Ulric, "See what I meant? Same attitude of her cousin!", he commented, amused. The other man arched an eyebrow, "I take it you did not get along well with this cousin of hers?".
The Thayan huffed, "Well, maybe they didn't, but it's not Edwin's fault in the slightest!", she stated, "He can't be blamed for being so undeniably superior to the insignificant monkeys crawling in the streets and if they don't like him, it's only because their intellect is too limited to appreciate his genius! (The curse of the Odesseiron of our generation)", she muttered under her breath, shaking her head bitterly.
Imoen grinned, "And she also shares his habit of muttering under their breath", she commented, "But Sek only does it when she's stressed". "I don't mutter under my breath! And neither does Edwin! (What a preposterous notion!)", the Firewalker exclaimed, causing her friends and even Osmund, Griff and Swire to laugh out loud.
Meanwhile, Jan was looking around when his eyes caught sight of a specific type of moss he needed as a spell component to cast the Dimension Door that would send them home, so he placed his empty bowl on the ground, took out his small dagger and walked up to the tree to scratch as much moss as possible, not realizing how weird his behaviour looked to the mercenaries. "Uh, Jan, what are you doing?", Swire asked, puzzled.
"Well, I'm getting myself some spe-cial samples of this amazing foreign moss, of course!", the Gnome quickly amended, "In my home country, this kind of trees and moss is nowhere to be found, you know? And the same goes for certain other types of plants and rocks, so I'm going to collect as many samples as possible to show them to my family when I get home. Why, I can safely say that I'm the first Jansen to boldly go where no Gnome has gone before!", he added with a wide grin, "Just you wait: when they see these beauties, they'll turn all green with envy! Metaphorically speaking, of course: they won't really turn green". "Of course they wo-".
"Though my cousin Doffy Jansen once did turn green, to be fair, but that wasn't out of envy, no, it was because my niece and nephew decided to pull a prank on him and switched his precious turnip scented body cream with the mashed spinach my Ma had prepared for our dinner and he didn't notice until it was too late and he was completely covered in it from head to toe. But then again, cousin Doffy has never been the sharpest tool in the shed.
Oh, look at this: what a lovely little rock, perfect for my collection! Now if only I could find some turnips during this journey, it would be perfect!", he then said, bending to pick up a piece of what he recognized as another important spell component. The mercenaries shared confused glances at his odd behaviour, but then just shrugged it off and resumed their meal as if nothing happened: even in such a short time, they had already learned not to question the antics of a Jansen.