Malakai practically ran down the well lit corridor of the small temple, finding it difficult to keep up with pastor Landen's much longer stride.
Despite only being accepted as an acolyte two years ago on his thirteenth birthday, he was the personal assistant to the pastor of the temple, the second highest ranking member of their temple.
"Master, what is going on? Why are we in such a hurry?" Malakai asked, noting a few other acolytes giving them curious glances as they rushed through the temple.
Pastor Landen glanced back, sweat beading on his palade face as he rushed down the hall.
"I am not entirely sure young Malakai. All i know is that Nervan Cerque sounded ready to have a panic attack last time we talked. He mentioned something about a Cardinal from the silent chapter, and a holy templar showing up on our doorstep," pastor Landen said through labored breaths.
Malakai swallowed hard at the pastor's word, both excitement and trepidation filling him. A templar and a holy knight, in one place?
He had never even met one of the pillars of the church before. It was an extremely rare occasion to have such important individuals this far in the outer band.
No wonder that sleazebag Nervin Cerque was so nervous. Internally, his heartbeat with nervous excitement. This could be a good thing. Maybe those two big shots were here to reprimand Nervin and to revoke the banishment of Archivuald? Malakai almost immediately dismissed that thought.
No, that wouldn't make sense. Though Archie was his older brother, he was a nobody, someone who had unfortunatly awakened the tattoo of the dark god.
That alone wasn't cause for banishment. According to Nervin Cerque, Archie had broken the rules, committing sacrilege against the holy mother. it wasn't illegal to awaken the tattoo of the Nether prince, but apparently Archivauld had done something unforgivable.
It was quite frustrating to have both Pastor Landen and Nervin refuse to tell him what exactly Archivaudl did. Malakai couldn't wait until he ran into his brother again, then he could find out what exactly Archivauld did to get kicked out.. His only consolation was that pastor Landen had assured him his brother was fine, out of reach of Nervin which was a relief.
Malakai had tried to find him, and see how Archie was doing, but apparently, he had left the city
almost immediately upon being kicked out.
Malakai shook his head, dispelling the unhelpful thoughts. That was nearly two years ago.
Surely they didn't send two bigshots here for nobody like Archivauld. No, this had to be something else.
The tall narrow oaken doors were flung open with a soft groan, and they entered the main sermon hall. Malakai immediately felt uncomfortable, as six sets of eyes locked on them. He instinctively slowed as he took in the three people.
On the right, dressed in resplendend Lamellar armor was the holy knight. The short, wide shouldered man had a beautiful longsword strapped at his waist, his armor and its overlapping steel plates polished to a shine. The holy knight wore an immaculate white cape with the black sword and shield of the knight's Templar emblazoned in the middle. It was an older man in perhaps his late fifties, his hair showing patches of grey, his face scarred from battle and years under the harsh sun.
With his thick bulging muscle, and confident gaze, the man could have been sculpted from stone.
He was every bit as impressive as all the renditions of holy knights from legend. Malakai's eyes flicked to the middle figure.
The Cardinal from the silent chapter was perhaps even more intimidating, though in a macabre way, with their body covered from head to toe by dark black fabric. The motif of a head with its eyes and mouth stitched shut was emblazoned on the man's chest in gory detail. It was a terrifying visage, made all the more disturbing by the demonic mask the figure wore. Just like the image on the robes, the mask had its eyes and mouth stitched shut.
Malakai had no idea how the man Cardinal could see but he assumed the figure could.
From the rumors he had heard, the silent chapter wore the masks to show their blind faith in the holy mother, the mouths sewn shut to show unquestioning devotion in her teachings.
Malakai immediately felt on edge. In most cases, the silent chapter were the ones to root out unbelievers, to excise the rot from the faithful.
Only the most zealous and devoted could enter such an order. Malakai shuddered, dragging his eyes from that horrific mask that seemed to be crying blood.
Lastly was Nervin Cerque, a man who often acted more important than the holy mother herself. At this moment, that mightier than thou attitude was nowhere to be seen. In the presence of two such esteemed figures, he looked as meek as a kicked dog.
The balding man looked like he had aged ten years in the past five minutes, sweat streaming down his forehead and staining his armpits.
Nervin anxiously stepped forwards as they entered, not even sparing Malakai a glance as he faced the paster.
"Ahh, pastor Landen, thank you for coming on such short notice. We have some honoured guests gracing our humble halls, having travelled all the way from inner reaches. This is guardian of the people's republic, Verden Merade of the Holy knights, and that is Imand Nulcan of sinners Liment, a cardinal of the silent chapter. We are beyond overjoyed to welcome them into our humble halls and do whatever----" Nervin was cut off as the holy knight grunted.
Nervin's voice cracked at the older man's rude interruption, the priest, turning a shade paler as he tried not to sound guilty of something.
The holy knight waved a gauntleted fist through the air. "No need for formalities, neither of us have time for all the pomp and ceremony. Normally we wouldn't intervene in local affairs, but Imand and I were passing through when we heard the news of the deaths of four young acolytes and five inquisitors. This is a tragedy that cannot be ignored nor forgiven. Since your temple is the closest to the rift they died in, we came here first in hopes you might be able to shed light on what happened." Verdan said, his tone brusk and to the point.
"Those deaths are not a part of my temple's perview. They were a rift hunting team from the temple of Carven, not here," Nervin said.
Verdan scowled, his glare making Nervin swallow hard.
"As I recall, the Muldaur mountain range where the rift opened is in your jurisdiction, making any who enter under your supervision. Your temple gets a share of the taxes when a rift opens in your territory, but you also become responsible for said rifts," Verdan said, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he glared at Nervin.
"Of, of course. You are right my lord.." Nervin stuttered. "We will of course do everything in our power to find and punish the culprits who murdered those members of the order," Nervin said looking like he wanted to crawl in a hole
and never come out under the intimidating man's icy stare.
"This is a waste of our time, Verdan. Why don't i just rip the information from his mind and we get on with it," Imand said, his tone calm and casual. The man had been silent until now, the only thing visible through his robes, his piercing blue eyes.
Verdan hesitated for a few seconds, with Nervin's face going white as a sheet. Malakai hadn't even known a human could go that pale before.
After an eternity that was actually only a few seconds, Verdan shook his head.
"I would love to, but that would leave this man a vegetable. Then we would have to go through the time consuming process of finding and appointing a new high priest for this temple. Besides, he hasn't committed any crimes that would warrant such a thing in anycase," Verdan said.
Imand let out an exuberant laugh that made Malakai flinch. "I'm sure he has something to hide, just give me a few minutes with him and i'll have him squealing like a pig," Imand hummed.
Nervin paled even further, his mouth opening and closing like a fish tossed onto land. Thankfully for Nervin, Verdan was a law abiding man down to the core.
Verdan shook his head. "You say that about everyone..." Verdan glanced over towards the old Pastor who seemed calm despite the conversation." You must be Pastor Landen. My contacts tell me you are the man to come to if I need answers," Verdan said.
The pastor slowly nodded, clasping his wrinkled hands behind his back, straightening his frail body.
"I think I have the information you're looking for. They call themselves Red star, a small bandit crew that has been working the area for some time. Their leader is Yurlan Sorgal, with Tanur Blackwood and Parcival Igor as their other two members. Apparently they found a fourth before they headed into the rift, but I still haven't found out who the new guy is," pastor Landen said calmly.
The holy night frowned, a common expression given his deep frown lines."Very interesting…
And you think this bandit crew with their four members could kill six inquisitors and four acolytes?" Verdan asked.
Pastor Landen nodded.
"The black market information merchant who sold them the intel on where to find that rift supplied me with a few more details. Yurlan and his crew were in dishonerably discharged from Duke Everfasts army after purportedly murdering everyone in a small village. The duke commander in charge couldn't prove it was them, but there were several other cases of foul play that got them kicked out," Pastor Landen said.
The holy knight shared a long glance with Imand of the silent chapter, something passing between them.
It was Imand who broke the silence.
"Where is this merchant you speak of? I wish to speak with them, perhaps I can extract the appearances of these Yurlan and the others from his mind. Given what you have shared already, I bet he has more information i can rip from his skull," Imand said, seeming excited at the idea.
Malakia couldn't help but shudder at the man's words. He had heard that the silent chapter members were ruthless, but this seemed excessive. Unwilling to draw the man's ire, he decided to stay as quiet as possible hoping they would continue to ignore his presence.
Pastor Landen kept surprisingly calm in the face of Imand.
"I'm sorry to say, but that won't be possible, Cardinal Imand. I have no idea who the information merchant is as the information was delivered to me anonymously," Pastor Landen said.
"I see… Unfortunate, but it shouldn't be to hard to find this information merchant. I will do some digging, perhaps I will get lucky. That will be all pastor Landen, you are dismissed," Imand said, waving a surprisingly dainty hand.
Nervin practically ran from the room, like a mouse running from a cat.
Pastor Landen left at more of a sedate pace, with Malakai following close behind him.
Malkai was anxious to leave, his heart racing when the holy knight spoke.
"Pastor, leave the boy. I need someone to run errands for me while I'm in town, it will only be for a few weeks," Verdan said.
The pastor glanced from a very nervous and excited Malakai, then back to the holy knight.
Malakai was no fool, even being an errand boy of such a high ranking member of the order, from the templars no less could be incredibly beneficial for an orphan like himself.
"Can I, please," Malakai asked softly, practically bouncing in excitement.
"Very well…" The Pastor turned back to the holy knight, "If you can promise Malakai will not come to any harm, he is all yours," The Pastor said.
Verdan nodded. "I give you my word as a templar of the holy order that no harm will come to the boy," Verdan said.
The pastor gave Malakai a nervous smile before gesturing him to stay. Malakai was a bundle of nervous excitement as the large doors shut behind him, leaving him alone with the holy knight and the cardinal of the silent chapter.