Night had already fallen when Elaine returned to the temple grounds. The gardens were empty, save for the few that were leaving the grounds for their night duty. They marched on without pause, not paying her any notice. Without her armor, she wasn’t important enough.

  As she reached the barracks, Elise stepped out from the shadows, greeting Elaine with a bow. She still wore her armor and a grim frown lined her tan face. Her sharp brown eyes narrowed as Elaine approached.

  “Captain.” Elise saluted her. “You are summoned to the interrogation chambers.”

  “Do you know why?” Elaine asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

  It was unusual for her to have anything to do with the inquisitors. They were the ones who questioned any the knights captured or held if it was necessary. She had only been there once before, when Nathaniel promoted her to captain.

  It was the day she saw her predecessor for the last time.

  “They’ve found a mage.” Elise’s gaze did not waver. “He was attempting to break into the gallows. Nathaniel wants you there to witness the interrogation.”

  “Go ahead of me.” Elaine nodded. “I will be there in a moment.”

  She went into her room, dressing and strapping on her armor and sword. It took her less than the toll of a bell to be done. When she left, the moon was high in its arc, there were none left about save for her.

  She proceeded quickly across the grounds, passing the doors to the temple and continuing without pause. The interrogation chamber was buried beneath the ground. The gallows was built just above to hide its presence.

  The gallows was stark and undecorated, completely different from the baroque design of the temple. It was made only for its function, a simple four walled building surrounded by a stone wall. A single wide wooden gate guarded by two inquisitors was the only entrance.

  Elaine passed by the guards without trouble. The men’s sneers were evident even when hidden behind their metal visors. The inquisitors had little respect for her knights. They had made it clear on their sparse meetings.

  She went around the back to the entrance, opening the iron doors and descending the stairs. It was a simple entrance; the High Inquisitor had no love of ornamentation. He did however, have a peculiar desire to hear men’s screams.

  She could hear them even as she walked down the hallway. Each of the twenty rooms beneath the gallows held a prisoner inside. There the inquisitors would ask their questions and search for their prisoner’s secrets.

  Elise stood outside of the last one, the one sequestered off at the end of the hall. Her eyes shut to the cries of pain around her. A relieved look crossed her face when she heard Elaine approach.

  Elaine could sympathize. The chambers were repugnant.

  “They’re waiting for you inside.” Elise stepped out of the way.

  “Thank you, Elise.” Elaine pulled open the door and entered the room, leaving behind the cries of the prisoners.

  Nathaniel and James Niblet, the High Inquisitor, were there to greet her. Nathaniel was dressed in his best white robes, as he always did. James was dressed in the black robes of an inquisitor. It and his short black hair contrasted against his almost inhumanly pale skin. His eyes were as dark as coals, completely devoid of any emotion.

  “Greetings, captain.” James rubbed his hooked nose with his thumb as he turned to her.

  “I understand you have something to show me,” Elaine said, ignoring him and focusing on Nathaniel.

  “Indeed,” Nathaniel said, scratching at his chest through his robes.

  Nathaniel motioned to the slab covered with cloth in the center of the room. A lump roughly the shape of a human man pushed the white cloth up. It was completely unmoving. Not even the breath of the person moved beneath the cloth.

  “You didn’t drag me out here this late to show me a dead mage.” Elaine sighed.

  “I assure you,” James said. “This particular one is of interest to all of Nethas.”

  He pulled back the cloth, revealing the prone form of a man. His skin was pale and covered with the black runes of a tower mage. This wasn’t nearly as interesting as his arm. A metal tube covered his forearm, its bronze gleaming in the torchlight.

  It too was marked with runes, yet it was unlike the normal runes that mages used. Elaine wasn’t terribly familiar with all the runes. However, mages typically based them on one of the four elements, with only slight variations.

  “We’ve been trying to open it.” James ran his finger across the metal. “It is the first we’ve seen of its make.”

  “You plan to interrogate a dead man?” Elaine asked.

  “James has a method you have yet to see, captain,” Nathaniel said with a wicked smile. “It is quite the horrifying show.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  James reached forward at this, his hands glowing white. Elaine’s eyes widened. This was the first time Elaine had seen an inquisitor wield Grace. Only the priests were able to do so, and they needed mantras to control it. Even her knights were only were able to channel it through the sigils beneath their armor.

  “You have no mantra, no sigil,” Elaine said. “How are you doing this?”

  “A revelation from Astor,” Nathaniel said, his eyes not leaving the light. “A chosen few can wield his Grace through their will alone. James is one of the first who can.”

  James still did not speak, his eyes closed as he held his glowing hand up high. With a simple grunt he slammed his open palm down, his had reaching into the mage’s chest with grasping fingers.

  The light shot through the body, filling it with Grace. James pulled at the lines of power, drawing them through the mage’s skin like threads from cloth. A blue glowing form rose out with those strands, dragged out from the mage’s pale flesh by the Grace.

  It was a spirit, retaining the form of the man, formed entirely of the blue light. It wailed a macabre song as it flowed out from the mage’s body. It rang through Elaine’s ears, forcing her to cover them with her hands to drown out the painful noise.

  “Quiet, spirit,” James said, jerking the strands. “You will answer my questions.”

  The spirit ceased its wails, floating in the air before them. Empty eyes stared at them each in turn, sizing them up with the unwavering gaze of death. Elaine saw the void hidden deep in the eyes, and the void stared back.

  “Ask your… questions,” the spirit said, its voice broken. “Then let me be free.”

  “What is this?” James pointed to the bronze device.

  “A seal,” the spirit said, stretching through the air, closer to his arm. “It is made to contain magical ailments.”

  “And that is why you wear it?” James asked.

  “I am tainted by magic.” The spirit kept moving through the air, coiling around itself like a snake. “This is how we deal with what cannot be dispelled.”

  “You were sneaking in here to release the prisoners,” James said. “Why would you do that?”

  “We are the only ones who can help the victims of the plague,” the spirit said. “Yet, your Order has refused every envoy we have sent.”

  “Can you reproduce this?” James asked. “Can you explain these runes?”

  “No.” The spirit laughed hollowly. “Very few of us can do this.”

  “You are released,” James said, drawing the light back into him and allowing the spirit to dissipate. “We might have our method in this man, but we need more to reproduce it.”

  “You refused them?” Elaine interrupted, turning to Nathaniel with barely contained anger brimming in her voice.

  “Their help isn’t needed,” Nathaniel said. “Those mages would just taint our city. We will find our own way to contain the plague.”

  “And leave the victims to suffer,” Elaine said.

  Anger ripped through her. Her hands clenched into fists as she stood there. It was no small effort to resist drawing her sword and cutting down Nathaniel with one blow. However, she couldn’t do it.

  “Enough of your questions, woman. I didn’t become head of this Order for you to second guess my decisions,” Nathaniel said before turning to James. “Are you sure we can use it?”

  “I think so,” James said, running his hand across the bronze again. “We’ll need to know more.”

  “We can start searching for them in Nethas,” Nathaniel said. “We’ll need the King’s permission to capture mages.”

  “I know of a way.” James smiled, looking down at the man. “It will take some time, but we can show that it is the mage’s fault that the night plague afflicts us.”

  “You would lie to the king?” Elaine asked.

  “It is for the city’s sake,” Nathaniel said. “We already know this plague reeks of sorcery. The fact that the mages know how to contain it means they could have just as easily have created it. They might just be using it to advance their status.”

  “We have no proof of it,” Elaine said.

  “But we will soon enough,” Nathaniel said. “Then we can start gathering up the mages and remove the cause of the disease entirely.”

  Elaine fought the sick feeling that rose in her stomach. The more Nathaniel spoke of his plan, the more her heart rebelled against it. She wanted to speak out, her voice raged to escape its cage. Yet, she knew better than to challenge Nathaniel.

  “I want your unit to come with me to speak with the king tomorrow.” Nathaniel stopped her. “By then we will have what we need. You can leave now captain, James and I have much to talk about.”

  “Understood.” Elaine saluted, stepping back out into the hall without another word.

  Elise was there waiting, her face still pale. Elaine motioned for her to follow, quickly heading out of the gallows and back into the night. Her chest was tight in her armor and she could only breathe in short gasps.

  Once they were near the barracks again, Elaine stopped. She breathed in and out frantically as she fought down the nauseating churning in her stomach.

  She understood that the city needed protection, but the hatred that always hid just beneath the surface of Nathaniel’s words bothered her. The Word of Astor called those who bent the world around them abominations, but they were still people. They still felt the prick of a torturer’s tools.

  They still screamed.

  She leaned forward onto the barrack’s walls, slamming her gauntlet against the stone in muted frustration. This wasn’t the first time she had felt so trapped, it was not the first time she had come to the forked road. All of the other times, she had wanted to stray, to choose a different path. She had never chosen to.

  Always something held her back. The Order was her life; it was the reason that she was no longer an orphan. She could not turn her back on her family. She could not walk away from the Order.

  “You look troubled, captain.” Elise’s calm voice interrupted Elaine’s thoughts. “Would you like to talk about it?”

  Elaine turned, realizing that Elise was still there.

  “I would, but I must keep silent,” Elaine said.

  “I would be nothing but a wall to your words, if you like,” Elise said, smiling. “I would receive them, but not judge them. So let me take the burning words from your heart, before it comes aflame.”

  “I wish I could, Elise.” Elaine smiled. “But you should not feel doubt for what I know.”

  “I sense the anger that boils within you,” Elise said. “I wish that you would tell me, but if not I can tell you one thing. We all have our doubts, captain. It is important that we don’t let those doubts obscure the purpose of our mission.”

  “Those who keep faith in Astor will be rewarded with justice.” Elaine nodded, quoting from the Word of Astor.

  “Even if we think these actions are wrong, Astor is bending it to a greater good,” Elise said. “We cannot be the ones to judge them; we can only follow our orders.”

  “I know that,” Elaine said.

  “Then relieve yourself of the doubt.” Elise smiled, placing a hand on Elaine’s shoulder. “It does you no good to carry such a burden.”

  “I will,” Elaine said, hiding the doubt that still burned within.

  They left out together. There was still time to get some sleep before the morning sun cracked the dark night. Elaine could already feel the weight of the day on her shoulders. She hardly noticed when she removed her armor and fell into the soft down of her bed. She could only hope that sleep would relieve her of the doubts that plagued her mind into the night.