Heretic Ch. 01

Author's Note: Do note that there is some very violent content within, and some disturbing content as well including Guro.

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Heretic

1: The Convent

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Daylight struggled to reach this place, and the shadows all seemed to be crawling with horrors from Pagan superstition. The old Roman road that cut through the Black Forest was far behind, and the dirt path the locals had decided was fit enough to be called a road led a simple cart into the depths of this ancient wood. The occasional beam of sunlight did manage to cut through the canopy, lending light for Maelice and her companion, as they perched on the aging bench of the creaking cart. The two mules that pulled it along seemed nervous, their heads swaying at every creak of branches or snap of twig. The wind itself rustled the leaves above, and animals darted between the shadows.

The driver, a man with deep set wrinkles and a shaggy mane of grey hair, snapped the reins. His milky eyes never strayed far from the road, Maelice doubted he would be able to see much, if anything otherwise.

"I must say, it is nice to have someone else on this journey with me. The sisters are a friendly enough bunch, but it is a lonely road to the abbey," the man said, and Maelice glanced at him, studying him from beneath the hood of her cloak. He spoke German, though the accent seemed more Swiss.

"You do not seem afraid, despite the rumours," she said, and the man only laughed. It was a deep sound, and left him smiling when the sound finally faded.

"No. I know the rumours, but I've been travelling these roads for near my whole life. Talk of demons and spirits is nothing new, and before Christ died for our sins, it was all the Old Gods and their monsters," the man said while shaking his head.

"Enough people seem to believe them," Maelice said turning her gaze out towards the forest again, fingers dancing along the hilt of the sword that rested in her lap.

"Is that why you're here then? To dispel these rumours?" the man asked, and tugged slightly on the reins to get his mules properly back upon the road.

"Something like that," Maelice said, and the man let out a low chuckle, before reaching to the wine skin sitting beside him. As he had done every time he went to take a sip, he offered it to his travelling companion first, but she denied it with a simple 'no thank you.'

"Suit yourself," the man said, as he had every other time, and pulled the stopper out with his teeth and took a healthy swig. The smell of the wine was strong, and Maelice wrinkled her nose. The smell always reminded her the far distant desert, where all manner of men showed the vileness that lived in their hearts.

With a contented sigh, the man lowered the wine skin and shoved the stopper back into place. Setting it beside himself he looked over to his companion. She returned the look, wondering exactly how much he could see of her.

"Whatever brings you out here, I would warn you to be careful. Demons or not, there are foul men in this forest, and they don't much care for the codes of chivalry," the man said, and Maelice let out a disgusted snort.

"Those men can be found everywhere. Chivalry or not," she said, and the man shrugged.

"True enough. I just hope you don't have to use that sword of yours. World has seen enough bloodshed. But I think these days even Christ himself knows to look away, else his kingdom would be rather empty."

Maelice nodded as the two fell into silence once again. The cart continued to amble on its way through the forest. Beneath her cloak, Maelice felt the hairs on her neck stand on end. She turned with a firm grip on the hilt of her sword. Her eyes swept the forest, and found a pair of eyes watching her. Low to the ground they glowed yellow in the shadows. Maelice frowned; the eyes could be a wolf, but they held an intellect not befitting a beast.

The lingering gaze merely watched, and soon faded from view. Maelice stared to where those eyes had been, looking for any sign of movement, but none came. She rose from the seat, twisting to watch behind them. Something shadowy crossed the road, skittering on all fours like a spider. No sound came as it vanished once more amid the ancient trees.

"I would not watch for long," the man said, and MAelice looked down at him as he continued staring ahead. A fly crawled across the man's brow and he twitched his head, causing the insect to fly off. When her eyes flicked back, there was nothing.

"I thought you didn't believe in demons," Maelice said, and the man chuckled, shaking his head.

"I never said that. You just interpreted that," he replied, and Maelice grunted as she sat back down.

"Fair point," she conceded, and laid her blade across her lap once more as she kept her eyes ahead, down the road that would lead them to the abbey.

"Humanity likes to think it's top of the food chain. But there are places in the world where that simply isn't true. Talked to a man from Libya once, told me how he lost his brother to lions," the man said, and Maelice raised an eyebrow. The cart driver seemed very calm.

"Lions are just beasts. That was not a beast behind us," Maelice said, and the man shrugged.

"Maybe it was. I didn't see it. There are many animals in this forest, and some do not mind the taste of human flesh," the man said, and Maelice looked back over her shoulder.

In the trees, something stared at her with yellow eyes. Its shape unknowable in the shadow, though Maelice was not sure the watcher was not shadow itself. Her hand lifted, touching the crucifix that hung from her neck.

"Stop looking," the man said, his tone without its usual mirth. He was hushed, insistent. "Or you will find your answers before you are ready. The road is for us, unless we invite them in."

Maelice did as suggested, looking ahead, running her fingers over the plain silver cross on its thin cord. She looked straight ahead, watching the road vanish beneath the hooves of mules and under the cart. She thought she heard whispers coming from the shadows around her, but couldn't make out the words.

Crucifix clutched tightly in hand, the other firmly on the hilt of her sword, she tried to ignore them. But they were insistent, scratching at her ears. A cold chill running down her spine.

"How do you do this so often?" Maelice asked the man, and he shrugged.

"The sisters of the convent need food. But if I am honest, there is something out there in the forest. Something evil. I don't know where it came from, but it's left me alone since it showed up," he said.

"So far," Maelice added, and the man nodded gently.

"So far," he agreed and snapped the reins again.

Once again a silence fell over them. A heavy blanket broken only by the creak of the cart's wheels and the whispers of the wind. Scratching again, ripping at the veil.

"You fear what the church might do to you should you seek aid," Maelice said, and the man glanced over at her. He did not respond, and the scratching whispers raked across their minds. There was a twitch in his brow and he looked ahead. So Maelice shrugged. "I don't suppose I blame you."

"You've been on Crusade," he said.

"I have," Maelice said, and the man glanced to her blade.

"And not merely as a healer. You have killed."

"I have."

"A nun wielding a blade. Such things do not often occur," the man said and the woman smiled. It was a humourless curl of the lips while her fingers played along the silver of her crucifix

"It is almost amusing to hear of oddities from you," Maelice said, and the man laughed. A deep sound that spilled from parted lips, but he did not take his milky eyes from the road.

"You know and yet you just sit there, the blade in its sheath," the man said, and Maelice looked upwards.

A shadowy shape watched her. At once its form humane and unknowable. Slick blackness swirled like ink into mist as its glowing yellow eyes regarded her with a deep hunger that reached no flesh. Maelice pulled her eyes away.

"The road is ours you said. Faith does not make everyone foolish. Just far too many," she said and earned another laugh from the man as a fly climbed out from his mouth, moving along his lip.

"It seems you are not here to dispel rumours after all. What is to prevent me from killing you now?" the man said and Maelice merely shrugged, but the whispers had her clenching her jaw, so she quickly spoke to fill the silence that fell.

"Curiosity. You've not dealt harm to the convent yet I presume, otherwise your friends would have descended upon us," she said, and the man chuckled once again. His body did not move with the sounds, nor his lips. They simple fell out from his open mouth.

"You have had dealings with my kind before," the man said.

"I was at Ma'arra," Maelice said, and the man simply grinned, another fly climbing out from his lips. He reached down and picked up the wine skin again. As before, he held it out to his companion. As before she waved her hand and offered 'no thank you'.

"A woman who survived Ma'arra yet won't imbibe in the drink. I am curious indeed, what will crack you," the man said, and Maelice just stared at him, eyes narrowed.

The man laughed again, mouth opening wide as the smell of death flowed up from his throat and flies flew out from the nest of squirming maggots behind his tonsils. Scrunching her face, Maelice looked away, clutching tighter to the crucifix in hand. She said nothing as the buzz of flies filled her ears and the whispers scratched at her mind, one string of words clawed inwards, burrowed in her consciousness.

"Did you like the taste?"

The flies vanished, and the man wore his innocent smile once more. His milky eyes staring ahead as the whispers swirled away on the winds. Maelice looked ahead, while the edges of her crucifix dug into her palm. Ahead loomed the stone walls of the convent, nestled in a broad clearing.

Maelice uncurled her hand and looked down. The silver had indented her skin, but the sharp pain dulled to an ache. The crucifix fell from her hand, hanging from the cord around her neck while she watched the convent grow larger as they got closer. The large oaken doors laid into the stone wall were closed, even as the cart came within fifty paces of the protective ring. Maelice looked up over the moss covered walls, seeing the steeple of the convent's church looming above them.

The man reached down and pulled up a bell upon a short stick and shook it. The high ring of it sounded through the clearing as the cart came to a stop just before the doors. The mules snorted, their hooves clapped at the ground to kick up small clouds from the dirt path.

Within a few moments the doors began to push open. Two nuns in simple gray habits on the inside had their shoulders against the thick doors, reinforced with large bands of steel bolted across. What surprised Maelice the most though, was the nun standing a few paces back with a crossbow in hand. This was not something she ever saw; outside her own order of course.

The man looked at her a moment with a grin, though no flies emerged this time.

"Nuns with crossbows. Seems you have your work cut out for you if this is what greets us," he said, and Maelice let out a quiet grunt as the man snapped at the reins.

The mules puled ahead, moving into the convent's grounds. Maelice looked up at the thickness of the walls as they passed through the gates, then let her eyes drop back down to the nun with the crossbow who was slowly backing away from the cart as it moved inwards.

Beyond that armed nun was the yard of St. Juliana's Abbey, open and broad within the protection of the walls, though dominated by the looming church and the structures attached to it. The grass was carefully tended, though Maelice took note of the barn at one end of the yard away from the abbey proper. The baa of sheep sounding from within told her one way the sisters here kept the yard well maintained.

Once the cart was inside the doors were closed behind it. Maelice frowned, and looked back over her shoulder as she watched the nuns put a thick piece of timber into brackets on the inner side of the door. She could not identify the slender marks that looked freshly carved into the wood.

"You are Sister Maelice? From Rome?" a voice pulled her attention, and she turned her head forward again to see the nun with the crossbow standing before her. The armed nun had spoken in Latin, though a German accent coloured the words.

"I am," Maelice said as she pulled back the hood of her cloak, revealing her wimple and black veil. The armed nun nodded.

"The Mother Superior will wish to see you then. I can have one of the sisters take you to her chambers," the nun said, and Maelice nodded as she climbed down off the cart. The nun looked at the sheathed sword Maelice held, even as she tied her belt around her waist to leave the blade resting along her leg. It felt good to get off the cart, to stretch her muscles.

Never mind being out of the forest.

Maelice looked past the nun acting as guard, and saw a small procession of blue garbed lay sisters moving towards the cart. Their heads were bowed to hide their faces, and hands folded over before their bodies. Among them were a few grey garbed choir nuns.

"I have a chest in the back of the cart as well," Maelice said and the nun lifted an eyebrow for a moment. She glanced towards the cart, before she offered a simple nod.

"It shall be brought to your chambers. Now, Sister Elke will take you to the Mother Superior," the armed nun said, before she turned to the procession, calling out for the sister she'd just named. A shorter woman stepped out and approached, she lifted her head and Maelice took note of the dark circles beneath her eyes.

"Please escort Sister Maelice to see the Mother Superior. I am sure they will have much to discuss. When they are done, please show her to her chambers," the armed nun said in German, and Elke nodded. She put on a smile as she turned her attention to Maelice, though it did not seem a convincing one.

"Lead the way Sister," Maelice said in German, causing the armed nun's eyes to widen for just the briefest of moments. Elke's smile widened just a hint as she turned and began to walk towards the main doors of the church.

Maelice quickly fell into step beside the young nun who threw a few curious glances to the newly arrived woman. Maelice couldn't entirely blame her, her habit was dyed black and she had a belt around her waist. A belt with a sword no less. Her feet were clad in well worn boots, rather than more traditional shoes, more soldierly than nun like. The weathered riding cloak wasn't common for those sworn to Christ either.

"You'll have to excuse Sister Rochelle. She has taken her duties with that crossbow and as the convent's guardian very seriously," Elke said, and Maelice nodded as they approached the front doors of the church.

"As she should. The letter summoning me spoke of Luciferians in the woods, along with a possible demonic presence. I can speak to the later now," Maelice said while Elke opened one door of the church and stepped inside. Maelice paused, kicking the edge of the top step that led to the door to knock some dirt from her soles.

"Dieter seems to have no issues, but he has spoken of odd things out in the forest," Elke said, making Maelice pause in the open doorway to look back. The other nuns were unloading the cart while its driver sat upon his bench and watched impassively. Maelice grunted and turned to step into the church's narthex as Elke closed the door.

"Dieter I think has issues plenty. He just does not share them," Maelice said stepping through the doors that led from the church's narthex into the nave. The sounds of Elke's shoes softly padding across the marbled floors were nearly overpowered by the taps of Maelice's boots. The sounds bounced through the empty church as the two women walked through the open space between the columns that lined the nave.

"Perhaps so. But we have had our own encounters here. I am sure the Mother Superior will tell you more," Elke said as they skirted along the edges of the choir that marked the centre of the church's cross design, and stepped up to the door nestled just before the southern transepts that were the church's arms.

"I know she will. But there is much I must know if I am to complete my duty here. Has there been any demonic sighting within the walls of the convent itself?" Maelice asked as Elke opened the door that led out into the cloister.

The young nun said nothing as Maelice walked out into the square walkway that wrapped around the cloister's central garden. Listening to the door shut behind her before Elke started walking once more, leading them both to the western range of the abbey, the woman was clearly thinking hard about what words to say.

That told Maelice more than the young woman wanted to.

"Nothing significant. Nightmares sometimes, shadows in shadows at night, especially on the grounds. But nothing dangerous. Not like what happened to Sister Hilde in the forest," Elke eventually said, and Maelice grunted at first. The young sister was hiding something, which did not bode well for the task ahead.

"What happened to Hilde?" Maelice asked, and Elke glanced over at her sharply, before letting out a tired sigh and walking through a small archway that held a set of stairs. Maelice looked back into the cloister with a frown, before stepping up the stairs behind Elke.

"She was torn to pieces, and her torso flayed. It was, a horrible sight. The story is that Luciferians did it, but we know it was something else," Elke said as the two ascended into a long corridor that stretched the entire length of the western range. On either side were doorways, left open to show the spartan cells within for lay sisters, but no sign of anyone actually living there.

Maelice glance back as Elke continued towards the doorway at the end, and took note of the stairs that would have led directly down to the church.

"Why not take the night stairs?" Maelice asked, and Elke paused looking back, eyes a little wider now. There was fear in her expression. Whether of her, or something else, Maelice could not tell.

"That is for direct access by the lay sisters to the church for prayer. It would not do, to be slothful," Elke said, and Maelice grunted. The story seemed reasonable enough. Convents often had strict rules Maelice knew well enough. But there was something off about Elke that Maelice didn't quite trust.

"Where are the lay sisters? These rooms look abandoned," Maelice said, before taking note of one of the final rooms, where the door wasn't open but rather slightly ajar. Inside she saw a pair of shoes sitting just beside the bed. So not all abandoned.

"They have begun sleeping in the eastern range with the choir nuns. It is unconventional, but they feel it safer, considering the times," Elke said as she neared the door at the end of the hall. She made no mention of whoever still slept here in the lay sister dormitory.

"Dark days indeed," Maelice said pausing just outside the door while Elke reached out to knock. Maelice looked at the woman's veil and wimple. There was something off about its shape that had Maelice raising an eyebrow. Something most wouldn't notice, but Maelice guessed the woman wasn't cutting her hair as she was supposed to.

Elke squirmed beneath the stare as her knuckles wrapped against the Mother Superior's door. As her hand fell away from the door she folded both just in front of her, trying to keep her eyes off the woman before her, mostly letting them stay locked on the floor.

"Come in," an aging voice, muffled by the oak of the door, called from within. Elke almost jumped at the opportunity to push the door open and step inside. Maelice watched her for a heartbeat before following.