There was yet another explosion, and I winced, looking around in panic. Our group was currently hiding in a small shop that had been closed, with boarded-up windows and a notice on the door, something about a gunsmith that had been closed by the order of the holy mother. The interior smelled of oil, leather, and metal, and had a variety of workbenches and tools on display. For some reason, Arturia was playing a soft lament, and there were tears in her eyes. Amiya hadn’t told her to be quiet, even though her playing could give us away. I had peered out of the window, though, and I saw passersby who had stopped, some of them briefly putting a hand over their hearts, and crying themselves.
Odd. Weren’t they all mind-controlled by Priestess?
“Relax. That was far away,” Gavial told me. She was sitting in front of me on a bench, my arts wand glowing as I treated her. “Click and a half at least.”
Amiya herself was pouring over a map with Wisadel and Federico, the three of them making markings on it with pens and talking in low voices.
“Won’t they be after us? If they hear news of magical music…” I said, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.
“It is unlikely any of the passersby will report us,” Amiya said, not looking up from the map as she circled some place of import. It looked like a water treatment facility.
“You can’t feel what they feel,” Wisadel told me, shaking her head. She dashed away tears of her own, looking frustrated. “Fuck! I’m not even Sankta! This shit shouldn’t mean anything to me, but…but I feel their grief. Their sadness. It’s like…fuck. It’s like someone took their damn pet purrbeast and drowned it.”
“They mourn the loss of their patrons. Many of them have been confiscated and destroyed. It is why so many of them feel half empty,” Arturia said, even as she continued to play a dirge that would make the dead themselves weep. I had red eyes and was weepy, but I couldn’t tell if that was the music, or the hormones. Also, I had to pee again.
I excused myself to use the restroom, and when I emerged, the others were packing up, and Arturia had paused in her music. She went over to reverently touch one of the workbenches. “Frater meus…do you recall coming here? I…I remember when my father brought me here, and I met Piccino for the first time.”
“I do. I was also given Fred and W here,” Federico stated, nodding.
Wisadel paused and studied Fred’s face, though he looked as impassive as ever to me. “You…this hurts you. That’s not just Empathy, is it? Holy shit, you can feel something!”
“I do. I merely struggle to express my feelings or understand them,” Federico stated.
Wisadel shrugged. “Well, join the fucking club. No one understands their emotions, Fred. And fuck me if I know how to express my emotions!”
“You are generally angry and distrustful, along with being rather sexually-”
“SHARING TIME IS OVER, MOVE THE FUCK OUT PEOPLE!” Wisadel snarled and kicked the door open.
Which was fortunate, as she kicked it right into the face of two Legatus officers, dressed in black uniforms with plumed caps on their heads. The door frame took one square in the face and sent him reeling back, blood spurting from his nose. His partner gasped at seeing us, and reached for the radio mounted on her belt. Gavial was down and had her pinned to the outside wall, gun against her forehead in a heartbeat, however.
Thankfully, the door led into a back alley, so there was no one observing us directly, but Federico grabbed the officer with the broken nose and yanked him back inside, while Gavial manhandled the woman, hissing at her, “Keep it quiet, or I get to find out what it’s like to have a broken halo!”
The woman nodded, wide-eyed, while tears streamed down the man's face as he was pressed onto the concrete floor by Federico’s boots.
“A moment,” Amiya said, shards of dark crystal appearing in her hands. Both of the officers began to struggle and try to shout, going so far as biting at the grease rags Wisadel had hastily stuffed in their mouths.
Amiya forced the originium fragments into them, and both officers went suddenly still.
“Remove the gags,” Amiya ordered, kneeling beside the two still terrified Legatus. “Do not shout or scream. Or I will be forced to silence you. Arturia. Play them a song.”
Our virtuoso complied and began to play a maudlin melody that tugged at the heartstrings and made me weep for real. Stupid hormones.
“Y-You… you’re th’ Rhodeth Ithlanderth!” he said around a nose full of blood.
“Oh, here,” I said, sniffling and crouching down. I mended the nose as Federico let him sit up, though he had Fred and W out and trained on the captives.
“We are,” Amiya agreed. “What orders have you received about us?”
“I’m not telling!” the woman half sobbed. “I, I’m loyal to the Holy Mother! I am! She…she sanctified me!”
“How can you say that, Avera! Look what she did to you!” the man said, flushing in anger.
The woman turned to him, shocked. “You can say that, you were already a Sankta, Aureus! Me? I wasn’t even allowed to be a Legatus before!”
“And you don’t see the fucking problem with that?” Wisadel growled at her.
The woman frowned at her. “Why should I talk to you? I bet none of you were even Sankta! You don’t believe in the Holy Mother!”
“Avera, that’s Federico and Arturia Giallo,” Aureus said with a shake of her head. “You know, the Executor and his crazy…er, cousin.”
“Do not fear, Officer. I am aware of the state's stance on my Sanity,” Arturia said, drawing her bow across the strings and evoking a sound that made me want to wail and gnash my teeth, and then beat Priestess’s head in!
Avera winced, but shook her head. “Aureus, you were a Legatus before! But, now…now the two of us…we wouldn’t…that is…” she licked her lips.
“Oh ancestors, they’re fucking,” Wisadel said, rolling her eyes.
Both blushed and glared, but Aureus met Federico’s eyes deliberately. Or, well he tried to. Fred’s gaze shifted away as usual. “Can’t even look me in the eye? Yes. I took a Liberi lover. I know what it means! But I’ve loved Avera since I met her three years ago! We had to keep our relationship secret, but at least our love was authentic! But now, they’ve taken my Veritas! Probably destroyed him already. And the Holy Mother is going to infect everyone with Oripathy! Well, you did that to us, but…but it changed something.”
“But…but Aureus…we could be married, like this. We…we would have children, and…and they would not be…like me,” Avera said, taking her partner’s hands in her own.
“I’d love them, no matter what. Especially if they were liberi like you,” Aureus said, squeezing Avera’s hands. “We should run away. Get married. Maybe…maybe if we leave the city, you can go back to the way you are supposed to be.”
“I…you mean it?” Avera asked, tears trickling down her cheeks.
I heard sniffling and glanced over at Wisadel, who was having to wipe at her nose with the back of her hand. She glared at me and scowled. “Shut up. Fucking Empathy. Didn’t used to have to deal with this shit.”
“Ah, you love it and you know it. I can tell you’re a sucker for love stories,” Gavial said, nudging Wisadel with her hip and making the other woman glare at her. “Oh come on. You can’t say you didn’t squeal a little when Ines and Hoederer got hitched? I heard about that one!”
“...shut up. I didn’t squeal. Out loud,” Wisadel grumbled, then shook her head. “Ok, so focus. Why the fuck were you two here?”
“The music was reported from one of the shuttered workshops and we were ordered to investigate,” Aureus explained. “We’re also on the lookout for you Rhodes Islanders. Not just here, but the Fallen who was arrested and taken by Cardinal Lemuen at the Gate of Mercy.”
“That’s where Sir Fiametta was arrested as well, for conspiring with Rhodes Islanders,” Avera agreed. She suddenly shrunk in on herself. “We…we’re conspiring with Rhodes Islanders now…aren’t we?”
“Fuck, Red got arrested,” Wisadel snarled, whipping out the map and spreading it out on the floor. She marked one of the eight main gates into Laterano. “Lemuen. That’s her fucking sister, isn’t it?”
“Fiametta as well. That isn’t good. No word of the Doktah?” Amiya asked, crouching beside the map.
The two Legatus shared a look, then Avena nodded slightly, and Aureus moved forward, pointing to the gate. “They didn’t sight the Oracle, the one you call the Doktah or the Ghost at the Gate of Mercy, but it’s suspected they were behind the assault, as, um, the Seaborn Whore was spotted there.”
“Haha!” Gavial laughed, slapping her leg. “Priestess really is Doktah’s angry ex!”
“Yes, we’re supposed to watch out for her…and, er…the Lord of Fiends,” Avena agreed. “Supposedly, the King of Sarkaz and her army are invading, but she’s disguised as a Cautus.”
Amiya regarded the two, then her disguise suddenly dropped. Both Legatus gasped in horror, hands going for empty holsters. Federico had already relieved them of their weapons.
“I am the Lord of Fiends. But I came to liberate my brothers and sisters in the tribe of Sankta. Not to destroy them,” Amiya said. She pointed to where she’d infected the two officers. “The originium I placed within you, I grant you permission to use. Though you might, perhaps, require another’s authority to do so. We are not yet certain as to how unfallen Sankta may use Originium.”
“That’s…that’s how you broke her control?” Avena asked, her arm trembling as she looked at where the crystal had entered her body.
“I felt it clear my mind…but, you’re Sarkaz. Don’t you hate us?” Aureus asked, his voice steady, but his eyes wide enough to show the whites.
“No,” Amiya said gently, and touched both of them. They both flinched, but her touch was gentle and soothing. “My heart has no room for hate. You can feel my emotions, can you not? I am a natural empath, and though I do not have Empathy, I can share my heart with you. Tell me: Do you sense any hatred within me?”
“I…I don’t,” Avena said slowly. “But I’m not practiced at this.”
“I don’t as well,” Aureus said, shaking his head. “You…you called us the Tribe of Sankta? This doesn’t make sense.”
“It doesn’t need to. But I must ask you this, and request you answer truly,” Amiya said, even as Arturia began to build towards a crescendo, sweat beginning to stream from her brow as she played furiously. “Will you help to seek to free your people, or will you damn us all to be Priestess’s slaves?”
“For the woman I love, I will fight beside you. Even a Sarkaz,” Aureus vowed.
Avena nodded emphatically. “Yes! We will do anything! To…to free the Liberi! It…we can’t remain the underclass! But we shouldn’t be forced to be Sankta either!”
“Can we trust them?” I asked Amiya.
She slowly took first Aureus’s hands in her own, looking deeply into his eyes. He didn’t flinch from her gaze, though what he saw there seemed to shock him. Next she took Avena, who did flinch from her gaze.
“You…you won’t tell him…will you?” Avena whispered.
“It is not mine to tell,” Amiya said, and stood. “They are trustworthy. I have peered into them, mind and soul. They will aid us, to their dying breath. I grant you the status of Rhodes Island Operators. Welcome, Operator Avena, Operator Aureus.”
“You could do a soul binding on them,” Wisadel muttered, and Amiya shrugged.
“I already did,” she said simply. “Why do you think I had Arturia play her music?”
Even as she said that, Arturia brought her concert to a final dramatic halt, sweat pouring from her face and soaking her robes, a look of ecstasy making her look radiant. “Ah, such a wonderful performance and outpouring of emotions! Truly, you are magnificent Amiya!”
“A soul binding!?” Avena squeaked, going red.
“Sarkaz sorcery!? From a Sankta!?” Aureus gasped, looking at Arturia with horror.
She only shrugged, still breathing heavily. “I studied with the Liches of Leithanein. Their arts are truly magnificent. From them, I learned the binding of souls, yes, but I could already manipulate them and minds. Oh, do not fret. This is the path you would have chosen, were you willing to abandon your stuffy duty for the passion of the heart.”
“I…I suppose it is,” Avena said. I noticed her hand go over her abdomen for a moment, before hastily dropping. She swallowed, then bowed to Amiya. “L-Lord of Fiends…what would you have us do?”
“You will need to arrest one of us, to get close to Mostima and figure out a way to free our friends. Additionally, this may be a way for us to get closer to Operator Bones, I’m not certain,” Amiya said, rubbing her chin with one hand.
“I’ll do it,” I said before I could even stop to think about it. “If there’s a way to help James…I want to do it.”
“Dunno if that’s such a good idea, Lucia,” Gavial said, frowning at me. “You’re not exactly the most combat-capable of us.”
“Which is why she’s probably the sacrifice play,” Wisadel said, nodding. She glanced over at Amiya. “What do you think, Ears?”
“Yes…if Priestess is as obsessed with Operator Bones as I suspect…then yes, Sussurro would be a good choice. But one other,” Amiya said, and her eyes turned to Arturia, who had finished mopping the sweat from her brow.
“Ah, but if you wish to stir the passions of the people, am I not the best choice?” she chuckled.
Federico shifted slightly, his eyes flitting towards his cousin. She chuckled and touched his arm lightly. “Fear not, Frater Meus. You can come and rescue me should the situation turn dire.”
“That is not my primary concern. However, you being captured is logical. It would have been your music that the Legatus would have come to investigate,” Federico stated.
Arturia laughed, then turned to me. “Well, shall we? I shall play us a most magnificent concert from prison. I have always wondered, what sort of emotions stir within the hearts of those held captive?”
“Not yet,” Gavial said, and came forward, wrapping me in a bone-crushing hug that drove the breath from me. I closed my own eyes and squeezed back as hard as I could, not bothering to fight the tears. “We’ll be on standby to get you out, OK? You just holler, and we’ll come running.”
“Ok,” I hiccupped. “I’ll hold you to that.”
We pushed apart, and Gavial wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Right. We gotta make this convincing and shit, right? So, what? We dip out for a minute, come back to find that our buddies have been kidnapped, and then go in hot pursuit?”
“Yes, that is the best plan,” Amiya agreed. “Come. We will go down the alley some distance. You will have to move quickly. Wait one minute, then cuff them and make a radio call. Whatever happens, do not break the illusion that you are still loyal servants of Priestess until I tell you to do so. Even if it means firing at us, or abusing one of us. This is our best trump card.”
“Of course, um, Lord of Fiends,” Aureus said with a nod.
That made Amiya laugh, a somewhat girlish giggle considering the circumstances. “Please, it is just Amiya. We are on a mission together. That makes us friends. There is one other thing.”
Amiya produced four fragments of Originium, handing one to each of us. “If necessary, use this upon your captors, or even yourselves.”
And so, that’s just what happened. Amiya, Wisadel, Gavial, and Federico slipped out the back door and down the alleyway. They hadn’t been gone for more than half a minute, Arturia back to playing her mournful melody, when Avena and Aureus slammed the door open themselves, shouting, “FREEZE!”
Arturia tried to fight back, drawing her small pistol, but she proved ineffective. I tried to use my crossbow to fire back, but I remembered that first Famiglia goon I’d killed, and my hands started shaking badly enough I missed. I’ve never been much of a markswoman.
We were both slammed to the ground with a lot of shouting and swearing, cuffs hastily put on us, and not too gently, though Avena did whisper a “Sorry!” in my ear.
I still kicked her viciously and snarled at her. They were not going to arrest Lucia Sussurro McCoy without a struggle!
Well, alright, I am not a McCoy yet, but by Grandmother’s fluffy tail, I was damn well going to find my man and make sure that happened!
“This is Legatus Avena,” my faux captor said into her radio as Arturia and I were manhandled out of the old gunsmithy and out onto the street. “We’ve got the source of the music at the old Vesperini place! It’s some crazy woman with a cello and this little girl! They actually fired on us!”
That was when our plan went wrong. We stepped out onto the street, Arturia with a wonderful bruise on her left eye that would surely turn into a real shiner if we didn’t treat it quickly, and me with a busted lip that was still bleeding. Avena was limping slightly from where I had kicked her, which made me feel a little better.
The problem, however, was that there were about two dozen Sankta on the street. And half of them looked extremely angry, and the others were coming around to that. They were of all ages, an old grandmother with glasses and a cane was frowning at us, while her young granddaughter of no more than eight or so with red eyes and tear tracks down her cheeks bared her teeth at Avena and Aureus.
“Legatus… respectfully, you should let these two go, and go about your day,” a young woman wearing an apron with a name tag that read “Sevrina” on it. What?
“Disgraceful. You’re an insult to the uniform,” an older, balding man with a paunch said, stomping over and planting his hands on his hips. There were mutters of agreement from the crowd.
“You took my Armenius!” Someone shouted, and the crowd shouted, and began to press closer.
“Copy that, bring them in. Must be a group mad about their patrons being confiscated,” Avena’s radio said at just the wrong time.
The crowd shouted in agreement, and they pressed in closer, reaching for Arturia, who was grinning broadly.
“Yes! Your emotions have been freed! Do not let them be oppressed again!” Arturia cried.
“We need backup!” Aureus gasped into his microphone and dragged us back inside, slamming the door behind us. He had to slide the bolt home quickly, as the door shuddered in its frame, and the clamor of the crowd grew louder behind us.
“What happened!?” Avena hissed, letting me go to peer out a window. “Did Amiya infect them as well?”
“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head and hurrying over to peek between a crack in the board. “It must be Arturia’s music.”
“Dispatch! We have a mob on our hands! They’re trying to break into Vesperini’s! They’re going to reclaim their confiscated patrons!” Aureus shouted, real panic in his voice now.
“Fight on, my brothers and sisters! We shall not submit to the will of another! Let your hearts sing!” Arturia cried out, a look of pure delight on her face.
“This isn’t the plan!” Avena shouted as something smashed into the boarded-up window hard enough to cause one of the braces to crunch and rattle.
“No, no, this is something far grander! Can you not feel their emotions!? Can you not taste of their sorrows, their joys, their passion!?” Arturia cackled madly.
“Legatus, reinforcements are on their way. Hold out!” the radio crackled.
Arturia began to sing, a wordless song of some sort that made the hair on my tail stand on end, so I knew that it was some kind of arts.
“Shut her up!” Avena shouted, and Aureus did what I think most people wanted to do upon meeting Arturia, and grabbed a grease rag from one of the tables and shoved it in her mouth. She gagged and choked, but he used a bit of tape to force it to stay put, making her glare at him, even as the windows began to give way, and the door at the back shuddered. Thankfully, Avena had thought to push a table in the way, and it held firm, at least for the moment.
It was a few tense minutes, but the crowd began to slowly lose its fervor. Apparently, without Arturia’s music, Priestess’ brainwashing began to reassert itself. By the time the reinforcements arrived, this time a full platoon of Pontific Cohers Lateran, led by two gun knights, and a man in red cardinal robes. He had grey hair and eyes, and a stern look on his face as Arturia and I were led out by Avena and Aureus.
“Well, Legatus, I can see the signs of the mob attacking this workshop, but where are the rioters? We caught these two, but they did not protest, and complained of headaches after listening to strange music.” the Cardinal said, his gaze sweeping over the splintered wood and trampled grass around the building, as well as the abandoned hammers and other tools on the cobblestones. There were two kneeling sankta: the waitress and the balding man, but they looked confused and remorseful, not violent.
“We don’t know, your Eminence, but I think this is the criminal, Arturia Giallo,” Aureus said, pushing her forward. “This young lady seems to have been led astray by her.”
The Cardinal spun to Arturia, and his eyes wide with shock. “You are correct! I recognize her! You have done well, Legatus, and we-”
There was a deafening report, and then a section of the cobblestones nearby exploded, showering us all with rubble and causing two of the Cohors to tackle the Cardinal while the Gun Knights took up defensive postures.
“BOOM~! HAHAHAH!” Wisadel’s voice echoed as gunfire filled the street.
“Get them out of here!” one of the Gun Knights ordered. “It’s the Rhodes Islanders! This must be part of their plot! You must get them to the Basilica, Cardinal Andoain!”
That name was familiar to me, but in all the noise and confusion, I couldn’t remember why at that moment.
“Right, at once! You, and you, with me!” Andoain ordered, and we were hustled away as the Gun Knights' cohorts gave battle, five of the soldiers and Avena and Aureus with us as Arturia and I were dragged bodily down the street. I cried out and struggled, but my feet weren’t even touching the cobbles, so there was little I could do.
This was the plan anyway, right?
We were hurried to an armored car even as a building erupted into flames behind us, and another half collapsed as one of the walls gave out. I could see waves of black arts, and I knew that Amiya was doing more than just pretending. I gave a silent prayer for the mind-controlled officers, then bit at someone’s hand, only to be swiftly muzzled.
The ride was surprisingly smooth, though Andoain spent the twenty minutes of it with his eyes fixed on me. I glared back at him for a good portion of it, then began to squirm uncomfortably. Damn it all, I was not going to wet myself in front of a Prince of the Church! Even a brainwashed one!
At last, we arrived wherever it was we were going, and Arturia and I were quickly led out of the car, through a well lit hallway of what was clearly a prison. There, we were met by more soldiers, led by another cardinal in rather rumbled robes. This one I recognized. She didn’t look like her sister, but Exusiai had described Lemuen well enough, and even showed me some old pictures. She looked rather different. Older, with shaper features, and larger wings, that seemed to be made of purple crystals. Her eyes glowed with a sinister light, and I could see those same diamond shapes that Plume had possessed.
Oh, Exusiai…I’m so sorry, I thought.
“Cardinal Lemuen. What happened to your rainment?” Andoain asked, frowning at his counterpart.
“My sister. It seems she smuggled the Demon into the city. Our forces are in pursuit of her now, but I received word you had captured more of the Rhodes Islanders,” Lemuen said, falling smoothly into step with Andoain as I was dangled through the hallway behind them.
“Ah, a pity,” Andoain said, shaking his head. “I will share with you any information I glean from them, of course.”
Lemuen shook her head and smiled, but it was a cold, deadly thing. “I was hoping to join you in the interrogation chamber. You do still owe me, Andoain. Consider this part of the price you must pay to settle the debt.”
Andoain hesitated. “Ah, the Holy Mother has forgiven all past grievances…and this should be my interrogation alone.”
“She has forgiven you, yes. That does not mean I have.” Lemuen stated, her voice cold enough to freeze the blood in my veins.
Andoain flinched, but nodded. “Very well. There is something wrong with this one. I can’t sense the faintest trace of Empathy in her. She also looks sankta, but something feels…off. I think I felt a tail when I brushed up against her.”
Oh, hell. I thought, but it was too late for regrets.
We were led down a level to a disturbingly neat maze of metal floors, walls, and doors with only small, innocuous numbers and letters on them. There were guards everywhere, with robed officers with blank neutral faces waiting for us.
“Uh, your Eminences…why are my partner and I here in the Sanctuarium Reconciliationis Aureus asked, sweat on his brow. Had our deception been found out?
“The Giallo’s music clearly incited a riot. We have to make sure you are not tainted by the Rhodes Islanders as well,” Lemuen said without turning, even as robbed inquisitors seized Avena and Aureus. “You will be examined. If you are found to be clean, you will be returned to honorable service and commended.”
She did not state what would happen if that were not the case. She didn’t need to.
Arturia and I were led to a small interrogation chamber, where two more inquisitors in their grey robes waited. “No recordings,” Andoain told the guards. “This interrogation will be for the ears of the Holy Mother alone.”
We were led inside and strapped down to chairs, no chance to use or originium shards. Andoain removed our gags as Lemuen took a seat, her eyes boring into me and making me sweat. There was little in the room. No implements of torture, thank the Saints, only the two chairs we were strapped in, along a table, notepads, and two chairs for our interrogators.
“I have to pee,” I gasped, slumping in my seat. “Please! I, I have to go!”
“She is pregnant,” Arturia said, glaring at Andoain and Lemuen both. “You would not deny her this, would you?”
“I would not,” Lemuen said, rising. “I will take her. You interrogate the Giallo.”
“She looks young to be pregnant,” Andoain said suspiciously.
“I’m twenty-three!” I snapped in irritation. “I’m even engaged! I’m just short!”
“Andoain, we are not here to humiliate them unnecessarily. Only to ascertain the truth,” Lemuen said, sounding mildly reproachful.
“Very well, but take a guard with you,” Andoain grumbled.
Lemuen gave him a flat stare. “You are my superior no more, Your Eminence. We are both of the red cloth now. And I am fully capable of handling one small, handcuffed, pregnant prisoner.”
She led me to the toilet, but kept the guards outside. I really did have to pee badly, so despite the humiliation, I sat and went about my business. I flinched when Lemuen suddenly crouched beside me, even before I finished.
“My sister. How did she fall?” Lemuen whispered.
I winced, finished, then whispered back, “She shot Arturia, actually.”
“I see,” Lemuen said. She nodded, then whispered, “You’re not a Sankta, are you?”
I hesitated, then nodded slightly.
“Good. Listen carefully,” Lemuen said. “We don’t have much time. El did something to me. I’m fighting her. But I can’t…I don’t have full control. Can you help me?”
“Uncuff me and I can,” I whispered back.
Lemuen nodded, and produced a key. “I didn’t wish to clean you regardless.”
I cleaned myself, then reached into the fluff of my tail where I’d secreted the originium shard. I raised it to stab Lemuen, but she saw it coming and quickly disarmed me. The shard vanished into her robes, and she rebuffed me.
Without saying another word, she led me back out to the hallway. What was going on? Had she spoken the truth? I didn’t fully understand, but I suspected something had happened.
We were stopped on the way back to the interrogation chamber by an inquisitor. “Your Eminence, the Legatus, both have been infected with Oripathy. It must have been during the battle. We will take them to the baptismals immediately, as per the Holy Mother’s standing orders.”
“Wait,” Lemuen said, holding up one hand. “I wish to interrogate them first. No, we will baptize them, of course, we will follow the will of the Holy Mother. But I suspect some Rhodes Islander plot. What cells do you have them in?”
“14A and 14B, Your Eminence.”
“Very good. I will finish with this one and be over directly. Send word to the Holy Mother at once that security must be increased around the city. Deploy the reserve squads. Did they capture the other Rhodes Islanders?”
“No, your Eminence, they escaped, but we are in pursuit.”
“As happened with the fallen. Get those reserve squads into the streets. Empty the Basilica if you have to. Even mine and Cardinal Andoain’s personal guards. If he protests, ignore it. The man is blinded by his own pride.”
“Of course, your Eminence. They will not escape.”
I felt my stomach sink as I was hurried back to the interrogation chamber. Andoain was grilling Arturia, who was smirking at him and giving non-answers, causing him to grow irate
“Where did you learn your arts? For what purpose?”
“Ah, what is the purpose of any art? To grant joy unto the people! And how do we learn it? Why, does not art itself beat within every breast?”
And so on. I wasn’t paying much attention, however. I was watching Lemuen. She kept checking her watch, even as Arturia toyed with the man who was supposed to be interrogating her. Lemuen seemed almost bored by the whole affair, sitting with her chin resting on one hand.
“Enough!” Andoain snarled, turning away from Arturia after about ten minutes of back and forth. He’d stuffed the gag back in her mouth, but by the way her eyes were dancing, I could tell she knew she’d one. He rounded on me, nostrils flaring. “Now, as to the one without empathy…”
“I shall be taking over now,” Lemuen said, standing and striding over to Andoain.
“You think you can get something out of this infuriating-” Andoain paused, looking down at his arm, where a black crystal now protruded. His robes grew dark and wet, though the scarlet color hid the blood.
“I…Lemuen, why…?” Andoain put a hand to his head, then leaned against the wall. “I…my head…”
Lemuen cocked her head to one side. “Can you still hear her? I can.”
Andoain shook his head from side to side, as if trying to shoo away a buzzing insect. “I can still…the Holy Mother…but it’s as if…no! You’re with the Rhodes Islanders! Guards!” he shouted.
“I see. You can’t fight off the Holy Mother. Neither can I,” Lemuen said. “Even now, I hear her voice. If she turns her will upon me…I will be doomed.”
“Then why did you stab me! As some sort of revenge!?” Andoain snarled. He frowned at the door. “Guards! Where are you!? Cardinal Lemuen has gone-”
With one smooth, fluid motion, Lemuen drew the revolver at her hip, then fired once. The bullet took Andoain in the gut, and I winced as it blew out his back. He collapsed with a scream into a puddle of feces, blood, and urine.
Lemuen collapsed as well with a gasp, barely able to prevent herself from falling to the ground by clinging to the table with both hands and dropping her gun. She gritted her teeth, pulling herself up, then kicked off her heels with a growl. She staggered over to me, her legs obviously unsteady, forced to lean on the wall, then my chair. She clumsily undid my restraints one handed. “Take his gun. Heal him. I do not wish for him to die.”
I nodded, looking at her cracked and broken halo, and her blackened wings. I didn’t have an arts wand, but I still muttered a healing prayer and did my best to sooth Andoain’s wounds. I prevented him from bleeding out and sealed his colon, but Lemuen had shot him right in the lower spine. Right where she had been shot, unless I very much missed my guess.
And I remembered now where I had heard the name Andoain. This was the same man who had crippled and shot her once. He was unconscious now, but not in good shape. But he would live.
The door crashed open, and Lemuen was sitting in a chair, waiting, Arturia beside her. She shot both inquisitors in the same fashion, dropping them to the floor with gasps and cries.
“Heal them as well,” Lemuen ordered. “Arturia, help me up. You used the Originium on Legatus Aureus and Avena?”
“We did,” Arutria agreed, smoothly helping Lemuen up as I hastily healed the two down inquisitors. They would also not be going anywhere any time soon, their legs useless. Making that shot once was impressive. Three times told me this really was Exusiai’s sister.
“Good. I cannot walk, even without those damnable heels,” Lemuen said through gritted teeth. “Not any distance at speed, at any rate. It seems in Falling, I completely broke Priestess’s hold on me, but also removed her gifts. I need my wheelchair. There should be some in the supply closet, though one of you will have to push me. Quickly. We have much to do. I got rid of as many guards as I could, but there will still be resistance. How good of a marksman are you, Giallo?”
“Poor, compared to most, I must confess,” Arturia said with a sigh.
“Then you shall be my legs, and I our weapon. Let us hope I was successful in clearing out the guards,” Lemuen said, and staggered along to the supply closet next to the interrogation room. There, we did find many implements of torture: hack saws, pliers, batteries, knives, and other horrific devices. Along with two folded wheelchairs, as well as my medical kit and arts wand, Arturia’s cello, and her little deringer pistol. Lemuen sighed as she settled into the chair. “That’s better. My old one was customized for speed, but this will require a push. I’ll need my hands for shooting.”
Arturia provided that, with me trotting alongside them. Thankfully, we encountered no more guards, Lemuen’s diversion seeming to have succeeded in largely clearing our path.
We soon made our way to where Avena and Aureus were being held. They were still in their uniforms and unharmed, though both had been cuffed hand and foot. They were quickly freed, taking up weapons from the fallen inquisitors.
“Are you with us, Your Excellency?” Avena asked as she clutched a pistol in her hands in a white knuckle grip.
“I intend to free this city for the demon calling herself the Holy Mother and perverting the Sankta, as well as the liberi. But we have much to do. But there is one here who can help us,” Lemuen said, and guided us several cell blocks down, where she had to shoot one additional guard outside a cell door.
When the door slid open, we found Mostima waiting for us. She was standing right by the door, and upon seeing Lemuen sitting in a wheelchair with a broken halo, grinned. “Well, well. Decided to join me and your sister, eh?”
“I like my mind as my own,” Lemuen said primly. “Now hurry up. I’ve got your staves in my office. We’ll need it once they figure out what’s going on and trigger the general alarm.”
We sprinted down the hall, even as alarms began to blare and emergency doors slide shut. We just made it into Lemuen’s office, which locked behind us.
“So, who did you shoot?” Mostima asked casually as she wheeled Lemuen over to a safe, then helped her stand to open it.
“Andoain. I must say, it felt rather good,” Lemuen said, her hand whirling on the dial. The safe clicked open, even as Mostima laughed. “Stop cackling like a reprobate. Get those staves, and get those doors open.”
“As you wish,” Mostima said with a careless bow. She plucked a pair of staves out of the safe. One was short with a white haft and a silver tip that made it look a bit like a short spear. The other was black, with a circular head. Mostima pointed both staves at the door, then began to chant a spell. She turned both staffs in opposite directions, and blue circles appeared around them, along with the ticking of clocks. The emergency door slowly raised back up, and Mostima nodded. “Get through quickly. I can’t hold the spell long.”
We hurried back out into the corridors, Aureus pushing Lemuen’s wheelchair. The alarms continued to sound, and I thought I heard distant explosions.
“Amiya,” I sighed, feeling a flood of relief.
“Hmm, I think not,” Lemuen said with a small smile. She gestured to the still locked doors. “Come, Mostima. There is little time to waste. We have a city to free.”
And more importantly, one tall idiot.