Know Your Enemy

Kragavald waited for him in the designated spot. Renfrid was anxious, but also curious to hear what the old inquisitor might wish to tell him.

“Follow me.”

Renfrid had a bad feeling about it, but he followed Kragavald up the stairs hugging the inner side of the wall and into the residential tower. The inquisitor led him to his quarter and closed the door.

The chamber was full of open chests filled with old books and countless kinds of implements he had never seen, just like his squire had told him. There were various religious symbols, a strange silver mirror, vials of unknown fluids of all hues, and a shrouded brass lamp. Hung on the chair, there was a handbag worthy of a vampire and werewolf hunter, with ashen stakes and silver-tipped quarrels sticking out of it.

On the table there was an old map of the kingdom of Rainhoven, generously annotated in every free space. It featured many sites unknown to Renfrid, labeled with an indiscernible handwriting. Or maybe it was a code? Renfrid could not tell.

“You did well by ambushing Einhart where he did not expect. You had the skill to seize that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but you failed to follow it through properly. You didn’t have the insight necessary to end Einhart once and for all. Had you been wise enough, you would have killed him on the spot. He’s not to be underestimated.”

Renfrid felt a need to defend himself.

“If it wasn’t for the broken plank, he would have long since burned on the stake. It was an accident that he freed himself.”

Kragavald’s face stretched in an eerie smile. He pulled a piece of parchment from his sleeve and placed it on the table.

“Was it?” – he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Remind me please, when exactly did you capture Einhart?”

The young knight thought for a second.

“June the eleventh.”

“And you arrived in the castle on…?”

“The fourteenth.”

“Did you send a runner to the knight commander when you captured Einhart?”

“Yes, without a delay.”

Kragavald handed him a black pawn.

“Please mark where exactly you ambushed Einhart.”

Renfrid leaned over the map and placed the pawn in the right spot. The inquisitor placed a rook on the Arskegg castle, and measured the distance between them with a compass, following the main highway.

“Eighteen leagues. A day for a skilled runner. This agrees with the testimony of the stable boy who said he saw your runner on the morning of June the twelfth.”

“What does this have to do with…”

“Shhhh… Patience.”

He rolled the parchment open. It was a ledger showing daily supply hauls arriving at the castle, detailed by day, time and the delivery composition. The meticulousness was impressive. He tried not to pay attention to the more lavish goods, apparently meant for the lord commander himself.

“Do you see something strange happening here from the arrival of your runner?”

Renfrid needed some time to spot an anomaly.

“The quantities are smaller, but supply runs are more frequent, probably to compensate for this.”

“Yes. And after the bridge is repaired, which is on the twenty first?”

“The figures are back to the original… But what does it have to do with the sorcerer’s escape?”

“Think about what it means from the bridge’s perspective.” – Kragavald nudged Renfrid towards the right answer.

“That… the load is lighter?”

“Correct. The load is lighter in the exact window between the arrival of your runner and the bridge collapsing under the wagon carrying Einhart. Coincidence?”

Renfrid was silent. There was too much going on in his head to respond.

“If you’re thinking about checking the bridge planks, I must disappoint you. They had already been burned by the time I came to this castle, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they bore sawing marks.”

“But why? Was someone in the castle conspiring to free Einhart?”

“Speak to none of this meeting, and we will find out.”

***

It was long after supper and most of the sisters had already gone to sleep, so there was little life in the monastery. Despite the late hour, the chapel still had one visitor. It was lit by a handful of candles, keeping this sacred place in a pious twilight.

Mother Mina was kneeling in the main nave, awaiting news about Sonia and Liesë. Her mind was too anxious to pray, however. Instead, her eyes were fixed on the sealed sword resting at the altar’s base.

“Mother…” – a quiet voice whispered to her ear. It was sister Noene, the caretaker of the chapel. – “It’s already time to snuff out the candles…”

“Leave them lit, please. I’ll douse them on my way out.”

Noene bowed and left. In the silence that followed Mina could hear her own heartbeat. It was fast and uneasy.

Finally, the door opened quietly and someone entered the chapel.

“Mother…” – Mina recognized Satine’s voice and immediately turned around, grabbing Satine’s shoulder.

“Speak!”

“They are back.”

Mina breathed a sigh of relief. She loosened her grip and leaned on her.

“Thank God… What news?”

“They saw two sorcerers on the Eastern Tract, travelling towards Inelin.”

“Were they seen?”

“No, the sorcerers were unaware of them.”

“Good, good. Anything else they found out?”

“They collected some samples for analysis. Liesë is already working on them in the basement. And…”

“…yes?”

“Sonia believes that this wasn’t Einhart’s trap, but an accidental encounter.”

Mina’s face expressed a mixture of confusion and a strange semblance of relief. Satine wasn’t able to decipher what was going on in her head at that moment.

“Thank you…”

“Sonia estimates that those two will cross the Moza river through the rope bridge tomorrow around noon. We can surprise them there as this is the only chokepoint on their path. Beyond that the country is an open plain.”

“Are you sure there are only two of them?”

“Yes, mother.”

“Was any of them Einhart himself?”

“No, they were sure of that.”

The prioress thought for a moment, glancing at the sword.

“You may go, but take every precaution possible.”

“Yes, mother.”

The young decurioness was about to take her leave, but Mina stopped her.

“There’s one more thing I wanted to talk with you about. A word of advice before you march off to fight.”

“Yes, mother?”

“Do you know why I took the oath to never bear arms again and laid down my blade in this chapel?”

“No…”

“That’s because I realized that when you live by the sword, you become corrupted and desensitized. You no longer realize the weight of taking someone’s life, whether it’s justified or not, and the screaming of your conscience can only be muffled by more and more blood. You deceive yourself into thinking that this is the right way. I saw it consume someone dear to me and I found the same darkness growing within me. I looked into the mirror of my soul and loathed what I saw…”

A moment of silence followed. Satine saw a tear rolling down Mina’s cheek. She found no words to say. Finally, Mina spoke again:

“There’s time to kill, and there’s time to heal. Time to lay down your arms and rebuild what was destroyed… And I’ve already had my share of destruction.”

After a brief pause, she added softly:

“Do not let the violence consume you.”

***

Liesë heard someone knocking at her laboratory’s door. She sighed with annoyance, but thought it improper to ignore it, especially since she knew her research was of interest to Satine and mother Mina.

“Come in” – she said, barely loud enough to be heard on the other side.

Satine entered the laboratory and immediately closed the door. Liesë appreciated that.

“How’s the research going?”

Liesë exhaled and broadly gestured at her surroundings. The shelves were tightly packed with leather-bound books, various pieces of glass, all kinds of apparatuses and containers with strange powders and liquids. The only source of light was an overhead chandelier with maybe a quarter of its candles still burning. Clotted wax drooped from it in long icicles. It truly looked like a lair of a mad scientist.

In the middle of the room there was a large oak table covered with a seemingly random arrangement of the aforementioned items. Amidst this mess was a neat pile of handwritten notes. Liesë had used about three dozen sheets of parchment that night alone. And she was still only halfway through her samples.

“It’s long past midnight. You should get some sleep.”

“I’m not done yet.”

“At least have a snack.”

Satine left a bowl of stew, a piece of bread and a cup of wine on the only free surface.

“So… what have you found out?”

Liesë took a deep breath and glanced at her notes.

“Based on the aura profiles I was able to clusterize using the reagent array testing, there were four spellcasters in the group that engaged Lynette and her party. One of them was most likely Einhart himself, as we know he’s the only hemothurge left in the realm, and the blood clot I found showed signs of magical influence above the threshold. I wasn’t able to positively identify the remaining spellcasters, but I’ve started profiling their aura. With more testing and, hopefully, some intel from the Brotherhood, I should be able to narrow them down.”

“That is…” – Satine struggled to understand half of what Liesë had said, but appreciated the weight of her findings – “…impressive.”

“Thank you.”

“Sonia told me about the tracks you found on the site… Are you sure this wasn’t an ambush?”

“Sonia is the best tracker I know. If she says so, I believe her. Besides, the blast markings on the trees and rocks were chaotic. This wasn’t a concentrated barrage of spells you would expect from a planned attack. It was consistent with Sonia’s findings.”

Satine nodded.

“Any thoughts on why the guerillas were even here, then?”

“I need some more time to think about it.”

“Alright. Don’t stay up too long, Liesë. I’m going to need you tomorrow. We move to meet those two sorcerers you and Sonia saw.”

Satine bade her goodnight and left the laboratory. Liesë sat at the table and ate some stew. It was still hot. She teared up a little at the thought that Satine went out of her way to heat up the food for her. Having finished the midnight snack, she felt a long overdue surge of fatigue, and finally returned to her cell to catch some sleep.