Willikins answered the door and let in the inquisitors. The first thing that struck me about the three men that walked into the foyer was that they were all wearing medallions. This was significant because, of the group that came to my house, only one had the medallion, the other two were clearly just guards. Here they were all inquisitors.
Another thing that struck me was that these were not small men. The only other inquisitor I had seen had been oddly skinny; these three men were built like the blacksmith, though perhaps a little longer of limb. Also, while all three had short swords, none of them had a sword that looked like mine. They did, however, each have hand crossbows. Fortunately, these were not locked and loaded, but carried over the shoulder.
Their uniforms looked like that of the previous inquisitor, except that they were wearing white church cloaks over their mail. Willikins took their crossbows and put them next to the coat rack. He also took their cloaks. When he motioned for their swords, they just grimly stared at him. And with that he decided to leave them alone.
The Mayor came in at this point and greeted all three.
“Gentleman, Gentleman, welcome to my humble abode. I must admit I did not know what to expect when I sent you that letter some weeks ago, but I am glad you have come. We are just about to sit for dinner, I can have Willikins add places at the table for all of you…”
“Yes… That would be… Nice,” said the oldest looking of the three. I say oldest looking because his hair had the most gray in it. This does not mean he was old, in fact I doubt he had seen the latter half of his 40th year, but since the other three had almost no grey, that is how I saw him.
As the older inquisitor walked into the dining room with the Mayor, the other two looked up the stairs at me peering around the corner at them.
“That the one?” Said one.
“Has to be. The Mayor has only one child, a daughter.”
With that they both smiled and walked into the dining room for dinner. It was then it occurred me that if I was going to run, now was the time to do so. Unfortunately, I was paralyzed by my fear of the situation. Also, I remembered that we did have a plan, and that was to spare Meredith and the Mayor as much hardship as I could.
So, not knowing what else to do, I put on my proverbial big boy pants and went down for dinner. Besides, they had spotted me already anyway.
When I got to the dining room I saw the table laid out, with Meredith to the Mayor’s right and me on his left. Unfortunately, the two younger inquisitors were seated after me and Meredith, with the oldest of the three sitting at the other table end. This meant that they would be between me and the front door for the whole meal. There was the other door, the one that lead to the kitchens from which Willikins brought our meals, but I wasn’t sure whether there was a way out of the house that way. Still, I was resigned at this point to have a very awkward meal, so I took my place and sat.
“Well, now that we are all here” said the Mayor, “perhaps some introductions are in order?”
To which the eldest of the three responded: “My name is Richardo, but you can call me Rich. The man to my right is Raffael, or Raf for short, the other is Mikael, or Mik. We are of the order of inquisitors out of Caer Sud.”
“Very nice” said the Mayor, “You already know me from my letter. My daughter’s name is Meredith. This young man, the one found in the crater where his family farm used to exist, is Tyr Janus. After dinner we can look at the weird sword that was found with him that gave the hospital workers such a worry.”
“We appreciate you contacting us,” said Rich. “It is not frequent that we get requests for an inquest. Still, it reminds us of the faith the church is putting in you to run this town in the church’s staid. Such actions will ensure that this continues without… inconvenience to all parties.”
Willikins came in with food at this point. Mutton with greens and rolls. I’m not sure why I remember the food, since I spent most of the meal just picking at it. Still, it is funny what the brain focuses on when you are worried stiff.
“While we are eating, child, why don’t you tell us what happened at your farm?” Said Rich. “Why were you found in a crater with a mysterious sword that looks a lot like the one carried by one of my fellow inquisitors, Lucius Ferdinand?”
“I honestly don’t know.” I replied. “I don’t remember much of what happened. I was coming back from getting supplies at the town, and well… That’s all I remembered.”
I actually remembered a lot more than that, but I figured the safest path was one of pretending ignorance. Too much could go wrong with a lie, and the truth would likely get me arrested on the spot.
“You don’t know?” Said Rich. “How can you not know how your farm was destroyed or why you were the only survivor? That doesn’t sound likely.”
“It’s actually not that uncommon.” Said Meredith, speaking for the first time during the meal. “You see… Well that is… Um… I work in the hospital. And well, it is not uncommon for people to not be able to remember what happened when they are traumatically injured. Sometimes it’s because of a head injury, sometimes it’s due to mental trauma. Regardless, it isn’t uncommon. And… Well… Tyr was pretty beat up when he got there. He was in the middle of whatever blew up his farm. He’s lucky to be alive, frankly.”
“If it is just a mental block… Well… We have ways of making you remember things. We can make you remember things that never happened with enough… persuasion.” Replied Rich, staring at me with an evil little smile.
With that said, we all focused on our food for a time. As I said before, I was so nervous I spent more time pushing food around my plate than actually eating anything. My stomach was doing back flips and for the first time in a long time, my head was beginning to twinge with an incipient headache.
Once everyone else was finished with their food and it was all cleared away, Rich broke the silence.
“Well, Mayor Blythe, that was a good meal. But I think we should stop dallying at the table. I would greatly like to see this blade. Where is it?”
“Oh, well, we keep it in the boy’s room. It always finds its way back there anyway, so we figured it could stay there till you got here.”
“You think it’s wise to let the boy keep such a weapon?” Said Rich.
“I did try and take it away, but even when the boy was unconscious it would just appear by his side. There really wasn’t anything I could do about it.”
“Interesting…” Said Rich as he smiled at me again with that evil smile. He also put a hand to the medallion at his neck as he stared at me. His smile only deepened.
“Well, why don’t we take a look at it? Unless there are any objections?” Said Rich, still looking directly at me.
During this exchange my head started to pound. The walk to my room happened in a bit of a blur as my eyes were watering from my headache.
When we got there Raf spoke for the first time. “This all his stuff?”
“Uh, yes… I mean no!” Said the mayor. “Most of this stuff we bought. Even his clothes. When he was found in the crater, he was in rough shape and his clothes were in tatters. Really, the only thing that was not garbage was the sword.”
“Hmmm…” Replied Raf.
Meanwhile, Rich had walked right over to the sword. “This it?” He asked the Mayor.
“Yes, we don’t typically keep weaponry in my house, we leave such things up to the Church of course…” Replied the Mayor.
“And good that you do.” Said Rich.
He sat down on one of the chairs and drew the sword. “This does look like the sword Lucius carried… But there is something wrong with it. Not sure what it is.”
“You sure you don’t know what it is Boss?” Asked Raf.
“Well… I have a few ideas actually,” said Rich tapping his medallion with his free hand.
“I don’t doubt it…” Said Raf with a smile on his face, also handling his medalion.
“Well, now why don’t I ask a few more questions of o
ur mystery man. So, tell my Tyr… What do you remember?”
“Uh… I told you, I don’t remember much after heading home from the market.”
“So you don’t remember your farm blowing up?”
“Uh… Blew up?... What do you mean?”
“I’ll take that as a no then. What about how your parents died, know anything about that?”
“I know no one was found with me and my farm was destroyed… But no other bodies were found but mine. At least… That’s what I have heard.”
“Oh I assure you, your parents are dead. Given the size off that crater, I would be shocked if even any of the livestock survived.”
During this exchange my headache had not gone away. In fact it seemed to have gotten worse.
“I… I didn’t… I didn’t know…” I replied, stammering because I was unsure what I was supposed to say and because my head was pounding.
“Yes. Just imagine them at the end, blown to bits by some unimaginable force. Do you think it was painful? Do you think they suffered?”
It was then that the Mayor interrupted. “Now see here! There is no cause to say such hurtful things to the boy. We looked all over for his parents, we even sent people out to find distant relatives. But no one was found. Even the house was gone. Rubbing salt in his wounds does not help anything.”
“Actually, Mr. Mayor… It does help. Maybe not him, but it helps our inquiries. Now, if you interrupt again, I will have you removed.”
“This is my house; I will not be removed from it.” Replied the mayor indignantly.
“You serve at the pleasure of the church and I can remove you from your job, your home, and existence if I wanted to. Now why don’t you go get some air…”
“Uh… yes… why don’t I… do that…” Replied the mayor, backing out of the room and grabbing Meredith on his way.
Rich stared him down the whole way out. He was still holding my drawn sword and fingering his amulet.
“Now boy, now that the insolent mayor has decided to go for a walk, why don’t we get down to business?” Rich said, while standing up from inspecting my sword. He then walked over to me and pointed it directly at my throat. “Now, why don’t you tell me what really happened?”
“I already told you, I don’t remember.” I said as my headache continued to grow worse.
“So be it.” Said Rich, who suddenly lunged forward to stab me. But just as suddenly, the sword disappeared from his hand, and his empty fist punched me in the throat.
The result of this was that Rich hurt his hand and I was knocked to the floor on my back. I spent the next several minutes choking and holding my throat. Rich spent those minutes cursing up a blue streak and shaking his hand in pain. A good grip on a sword for a thrust is not a good position to punch someone.
“God damn it! Did any of you sense anything just then? Where did that bloody sword go? Don’t just stand there you morons, go get our crossbows!!”
At this Mik ran off to get the weapons and Raf grabbed his own medallion and stared at it. In the meantime, I started looking around the room. I didn’t see anything that would help me. So I started to stand and my foot hit something. I looked down and saw my sword, sitting there in its sheath right by my feet. So, not knowing what else to do I grabbed it and pulled it out. I wish I could say I struck an impressive stance, or even looked impressive holding the sword. Unfortunately, I was just an awkward kid, with no sword training whatsoever. I was lucky I didn’t cut myself.
Just as I pulled the sword and was resolving to do something stupid with it, Mik returned with the inquisitors’ crossbows. More importantly, he returned with his crossbow loaded. As he distributed the others to his friends, they also cocked and loaded their crossbows. I am glad that I was not too messed up from the punch to the throat, because I am sure if I had made any sudden movements that this tale would have ended rather abruptly. Fortunately, I did see the loaded crossbow Mik was carrying, so instead of attacking, I backed away.
“Why don’t you put that sword down kid? We would not want to do something drastic, like shoot you full of crossbow bolts.”
“Why don’t you put down the crossbow first?” I said, all bluster, not knowing what else to do.
“No, I have an even better idea.” said Rich. “Why don’t we get the Mayor and his daughter in here? What if I shot him with the crossbow? Or maybe slit their throats, this time using my sword. Would that jog your memory?”
“Don’t you harm them!” I shouted. “They have nothing to do with this.”
“Oh, I think they have everything to do with this. But regardless, I don’t care. I was sent here to get answers for the church authorities. They don’t much care how I get them. Understand?”
It was at this moment that I realized I had lost track of Raf. Only too late I realized he had snuck around near me with a sheathed sword. I caught a glimpse of him for a split second, just as he was bringing the sheathed blade around into the back of my skull. The blow knocked me unconscious.
Chapter 4.
I woke up with a splitting headache and found myself tied up in the back of a barred wagon. It looked a lot like the cart my father and I used to take excess goods to market, except it had a roof held up by bars, and instead of a hitch it had a locked and barred door in the back. The three inquisitors were sitting on the front bench, driving the cart. I tried to clear my head by shaking it. Unfortunately, this motion let the inquisitors know I was awake.
“Well, look what we have here? The kid has a thicker skull than we imagined. He managed to wake up after all,” said Rich.
“Raf, you owe me 50 silvers, it hasn’t yet been a day since we knocked him out,” said Mik.
“Damn it! I was close though. The moon is almost at its zenith,” said Raf.
“Hah! Close… Pay up, loser,” said Mik.
“Where… where am I?” I said rather feebly. This was only partially feigned. I figured staying meek and appearing hurt would keep these villains from hurting me more and would buy me more time to recover from the blow. The world was a little unfocussed and I felt nauseous. Likely I had a concussion.
“Not that it is any of your business, but we are heading south on the road out of Forsburg. We are headed to Caer Sud. There you will be interrogated by the head of the Inquisition. Does that frighten you, boy?” said Rich.
“Uh… No?... Honestly I have no idea what you are talking about. Are we heading south? Is that the eastern forest there on our left?” I replied, still somewhat bewildered from the blow to my head.
“Oh that’s right, I keep forgetting what provincial rubes you farmers are out here, being so far away from the coast.” Said Rich. “I suppose I will have to educate you. The inquisition is not only in charge of collecting those tainted with magic like yourself, but more senior members have been trained specifically in extracting information as well. They make life uncomfortable, and sometimes short, for those who do not answer them truthfully.”
“What? Like they throw you on the rack or stick you with red hot pokers?” I asked as the horror of my situation started to dawn on me.
“No. They have moved far beyond such inelegant means of persuasion. They have developed more… let’s call them effective… ways of getting people to spill their guts.”
I wanted to ask what they were, but then quickly realized that I probably didn’t want to know. Still, the imagination has a way of presenting you with a myriad of horrible possibilities, especially when you try and not think about them.
Instead, I started to worry about how I was going to get out of this situation. Unfortunately, being tied up as I was, I didn’t have much to work with. That was, until I remembered that my sword seemed to keep showing up whenever I needed it. So I concentrated on trying to call it to me.
You there sword? I asked in my head.
I am always here. Much to my chagrin. What do you need kid?
Uh, I need to get the hell out of here.
Master of the obvious aren’t you. And her
e I thought I was doomed to witness the persuasion techniques these idiots were talking about.
Well, between you and me, I would like to get out before then.
That strikes me as the start of a good plan. So how do you propose we get you untied and out of the cage?
I was hoping you would come up with a brilliant plan.
Kid, the best I can do is appear next to you in the cage and hope they don’t notice.
Well, if you do that, I might be able to cut my bonds. But I am not sure that will get me out of the cage.
Probably won’t get you out. But it is a good sight better to be untied in a cage, than tied up in a cage.
01 - The Price of Talent Page 4
