The Infinite Bk. 04 Ch. 09

"I swear on my life, Alexis had nothing to do with the priest's death. I'll confess to the king if I have to."

"Very well then. Until the investigation is complete, you are under arrest for the murder of Priest Marduel."

"Lucius, don't do this!" Alexis argued as the shackles were put on him.

"Don't get in the way, this is how it has to be."

"There has to be something we can do," said Sophia, turning to Cyrilo, but she, too, was blindsided by everything going on.

"Lucius," she finally said, "this isn't over, and don't think for one second that it is." She then glared at the knights, shooting daggers from her eyes. "And this goes for the rest of you as well."

Berholm and the knights left, taking Lucius with them, and never had the rattling of chains rang so loud. The bar was left in stunned silence. Cyrilo turned and briskly walked back to her study, and Alexis and Sophia chased after her, finding her pacing back and forth.

"I was so worried one of those scholars would plant something in my books. To think all those knights were working for the church."

"There has to be something we can do, some way to prove his innocence!" Sophia said.

"We would have to find the priest's real killer, not that that's likely to happen," Cyrilo replied. "Not only did our enemy eliminate our only lead, but they also pinned it on us. I'd be admiring their cleverness if I wasn't so furious. Where are you going?" she asked as Alexis approached the door.

"No more talking, no more waiting, it's time to cut the head off the snake. I'll hunt down the cardinals and every priest in the city, and if they don't give me what I want, I'll beat them until they do. And if the kingdom gets in my way, I'll tear it down, brick by brick."

"Alexis, stop. You know you can't win by fighting that way. What'll you do when a gold-rank knight stands in front of you?"

"I'll kill them, that's what! I'll take them down, just like Noah would! You told me I had to be patient to make real change, that I had to swallow my ideals if I ever wanted to see them fulfilled, and Lady Zodiac told me that I have to pick my battles. But when we were in the academy, Noah told me that an outcast willing to dirty their hands can get more done than a hero who worries about opinions. If the only way to change this country is to make it fear me, then so be it! I'll kill whoever gets in my way and put Noah's crimes to shame!"

"Alexis, don't go!"

"Wait a second, the academy!" said Cyrilo, drawing Sophia and Alexis's attention.

"What about the academy?" Alexis asked.

"The knighthood has been infiltrated, but the church could only get its zealots in with two ways. The first would be to indoctrinate those who have already joined the knighthood, and the second would be to enroll them into the academy."

"That's right," said Sophia. "When I was in the academy, there was so much pressure on us healers to swear allegiance to the church. We were supposed to be a group that would operate between the clergy and the kingdom. Even outside of lessons, we were coached on doctrine and servitude, but after my evening with Noah, I was basically excluded from all those conversations. They said I was tainted."

"I don't just mean the healers. Everyone who has come after us, they were all ready to kill and die for their masters. The church cultivated these lunatics, planted them in the knighthood, and watched them grow, and I bet the academy was in on it."

Cyrilo pulled a lockbox out of her desk, opened it, and revealed a silver-ranked knight's ring. She put it on and conjured a satchel full of papers. "Noah blackmailed Commandant Ford in order to stay at the academy, and he asked me to hold onto the evidence. Apparently, he was having affairs with some of his cadets, but there might be other incriminating evidence in here. If we can prove that the church infiltrated the knighthood, then we can discredit those rats who lied about you."

They began looking through the bag, skimming the various documents, and soon found gold. "I got it!" Sophia exclaimed, holding up a list of names. "Only members of the clergy use this kind of paper. These must be cadets who the church planted in the academy."

"So we're going after the commandant," said Alexis.

"Actually, he's just a captain now, but I bet he knows plenty of dirty little secrets regarding the church. We'll put him in front of the king, and this time, we don't take no for an answer."

----------

As the sun began to set, Captain Ford stood up from the chair in his office and sighed wearily. He was lucky to have it still, considering his demotion from Commandant. His experience running the knight academy and spotless record before the arrival of Noah were the only reasons he hadn't lost his job.

Originally a member of the regular military, his position at the academy had always been precarious, and it wasn't getting easier. The ripples of Noah's actions the previous year had yet to settle. If anything, they were continuing to stir up the new cadets.

Ford put those thoughts out of his mind and left his office, ready to go home. He and his wife lived in a house not far beyond the academy grounds, and he had a personal carriage that took him back and forth. He left home early and returned late each day.

He reached the stables, where his driver was prepping the carriage for departure alongside the academy horses. Ford exchanged a few quick words with the young man at a level of communication just below small talk. After he climbed inside the carriage and sat down, he gave yet another sigh of exhaustion.

As the carriage set off, Ford closed his eyes, waiting for that specific bump telling him he had passed the academy gates. Had his eyes been open, perhaps he would have seen Alexis. Garbed in her blue battle dress and fully armed, she chased after the carriage, running like the wind. Finally, she caught up with it and jumped aboard, opening the door to the captain's shock.

"What's going--" Before he could finish speaking, she put her sword to his neck and sat across from him. "Alexis Veres, to think I would see one my best students so soon."

"Tell your driver to take you to the castle, right now."

"And why would I do that?"

Alexis pricked his throat with her sword, letting a drop of blood fall freely. "That's why."

Ford growled in annoyance and opened the window beside him. "Tad, take me to the palace."

"Sir?"

"You heard me, go straight there." He then closed the window and glared at Alexis. "Hijacking my carriage and threatening me, have you completely lost your mind, girl?"

"Shut up. You're going to tell the king about all of the church's spies you've been letting into the knighthood."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, despite the blood draining from his face.

"I already know the knighthood has been infiltrated, and it just so happens that a list of names was found in your office, a list coming from the cardinals. They were names of cadets you weren't allowed to kick out. I know because one of the names was a cadet who got caught peeking into the women's bath. He and his friends got whipped, when they normally would have been whipped and expelled. How much did the church pay you to let that slide?"

"Fine, so you figured it out, so what? You think I'm scared of you because you have a sword on me? I will tell the king nothing, and you will be arrested and executed for what you've done here."

"Right now, my friend is sitting in the dungeon, framed for a murder he didn't commit by knights loyal to the church. Do you know who he's accused of murdering? A priest that we spoke to, who gave us some answers but refused to stand against his superiors. They killed him to keep him silent. Do you think they won't do the same to you?

Since we know about the church buying you off, you've become a loose end. Your exposure makes you a liability to church, someone to get rid of so you can't be used against them. Sure, they'll blame your death on me or someone else, but the fact remains that a target is now on your back. You were doomed the moment I got in this carriage, and the only way to save your life is to come clean to the king and help bring down the cardinals."

"If I tell the king the truth, I'll end up in the dungeon for the rest of my life."

"Not if you blow the whistle on the church. And if you are arrested, it's still better than being murdered."

Ford was silent, mulling over his options, not that he really had any. Everything Alexis said was true, and right now, his life was on the line. Then, before he could respond, the carriage overturned as though it had been tackled by a charging bull, falling on its side and scraping across the ground.

Alexis and Ford were thrown around the interior. Alexis hit the frame of the window, now broken, so hard that she tasted blood. It seemed like forever before the carriage finally stopped moving, but it had only taken a few moments for everything to be upended.

Coughing and groaning in pain, Alexis slowly got to her feet and pushed open the side door, now directly above her head. She climbed outside to find the street was empty, and around her, she could hear the cries of whistles.

"A monster alarm," she cursed.

There were many reasons why Colbrand was built in the location that it was, one of them being the animals that spawned via magic circles. Typically, they didn't produce anything worse than a wild dog, but every once in a while, something truly dangerous would appear. If it wasn't the result of a summoning circle, it was either a beast that had wandered in from the country or escaped imprisonment in the city. When the whistles started going off, it meant that a monster had been spotted, and everyone had to flee the area until it was slain.

The setting sun was already clearing the streets, and with the whistles going off, no one was around to see what happened or what was about to happen next. At the moment, the only monsters walking around were on two feet, such as the one approaching the wrecked carriage.

"Sir Reyns, is that you?" Alexis asked, speaking to the long-haired man approaching in full armor.

He was the mace trainer at the academy and, according to rumors, part elf. However, it didn't look like he was there to help, and as Alexis dared a glance to the horses and the carriage driver, she realized he wasn't alone. All three had their heads cleanly removed, and their blood spilled into the street. Considering that Reyns was armed with a pair of quarterstaffs, it was clear he didn't kill them.

Alexis climbed out of the carriage, trading her sword for her bow and aiming an arrow at Reyns. "Hold it, Sir Reyns. Tell me why you're here."

"You know why I'm here," the man said coldly. "You shouldn't have interfered, Veres. You should have just kept your head down and let everyone forget you."

"So, the church has you keeping tabs on Ford, do they? You saw me board his carriage? You swore an oath, just as I did, to serve king and country! Instead, you're just a pawn for the clergy!"

"Shut your mouth!"

Behind Alexis, Ford climbed out of the carriage and dusted himself off. "Ah, excellent timing, Reyns. You made a mistake by coming after me, Veres. I have friends on--"

"Get down!"

Alexis tackled Ford, knocking him to the ground and saving his life. A ring of light, thin as paper, whipped through the air, missing Ford and slicing through the overturned carriage. A moment later, and the captain would have been bisected. Alexis looked over, seeing another figure approaching from an adjacent street. He was glowing with an aura of mana and garbed in robes like previous assassins, hiding his face.

"Wake up! They're here to kill us both, you fool!" Alexis said as she got off Ford and trained her arrow on the newcomer.

"Reyns, you'd better have a good explanation for this!" Ford barked.

"It's just as she says. If she knows about you, then Cyrilo knows about you, meaning you all need to die."

"You heard him, Captain," said Alexis. "So which is it going to be? Kneel and die for the church, or follow me to the castle and bring it down?"

Ford aimed his hand at the slain horses, and a blue magic circle appeared around his wrist. "Ocean Armament." Water began to surge from the horses, siphoned from their blood and flesh. The water gathered in his hand and formed a solid shape, becoming a trident. "I'm going to make you pay for getting me involved in this, but at the moment, I have no choice but to work with you."

Alexis and Ford stood back to back, armed and staring their approaching enemies down.

----------

Elsewhere in the city, near the palace, Sophia and Daniel were hiding in an alley.

"Any idea how long it'll take for them to get here?" Daniel asked.

"I'm not sure, but I feel like they should have arrived by now," said Sophia, holding the bag of evidence.

This was a two-pronged move, in which Alexis was in charge of getting Ford to the palace while Sophia and Daniel lay in wait with the evidence of the church's subterfuge. Each by themselves could be dismissed; Ford's accusation with nothing to back it up, and potential evidence that needed to be corroborated by Ford, but once combined, not even the cardinals would be able to talk their way out of it.

"Man, I am not built for this kind of stress," Daniel said as he lit a gonlief cigarette. "I'm just a guitar-player, man. No one told me I'd be doing any of this spy shit."

"Well Lucius is in the dungeon, and Cyrilo needs to stay behind to defend the Knight's Sheath, so you're all I've got. I really need you to show some backbone."

"I'm known for many things, and backbone isn't one of them." They waited a few more minutes, and still no sight of Ford's carriage. "Fuck! This is killing me, man!"

"Listen to me, I'm worried too, but you really aren't helping."

They kept waiting.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Daniel then asked.

"Hear what?"

"I think there is a monster alarm going off."

Dread gripped Sophia. "From which direction?"

"Over there, in the distance."

"That's where Alexis should be coming from!" Sophia then shoved the bag of evidence into Daniel's arms. "Guard this with your life!" She took off running, ignoring his shouts.

----------

Ford spun around with his long coat billowing, fending off the strikes of Reyns's attacks with his trident. Despite his bureaucratic position, the captain's strength and skills remained sharp. He was nimble on his feet, avoiding the fellow knight's attacks and blocking the rest while lunging out with his own.

His trident, though made of liquid water, remained perfectly rigid and absorbed every impact without losing its shape. He could control it with magical dexterity, spinning it around his finger so fast that it became an impenetrable barrier, holding Reyns back. Then, he could stop it just as quickly and lunge forward for a thrust, altering the shape of the trident's shaft to extend its reach.

Despite the captain's skill, Reyns went after him with an unrelenting chain of blows, and the continuous colliding of their weapons sounded like chattering teeth in the deathly cold. Reyns's stick fighting technique was well-honed and deadly, capable of delivering half-a-dozen strikes in a single second. His defense was equally proficient, able to ward off stabs and strikes from Ford and unleash his attack simultaneously. The two dueling knights were living blurs of rapid footwork and swinging weapons.

Nearby, however, the fight wasn't so evenly balanced. Alexis and her opponent darted back and forth, each launching attacks at the other. While Alexis was armed with a bow, her enemy used wind magic. Rings of glowing air would appear around his wrists, each the size of a dinner plate, and he'd hurl them at her like a razor-sharp discus. They were fast, precise, and deadly, and it didn't seem like her opponent was restricted by his mana reserves.

Alexis did her best to dodge, but the blood flowing from her numerous cuts showed how well that was going. Worse, her foe would turn his attention on Ford if she strayed too far. As she tried to devise a plan, she saw him swing his arm, and a barrage of rings was hurled at the captain.

"Shit! Scatter Shot!"

Alexis aimed her bow and shot an arrow at the flying rings, launching not one attack, but a whole volley. The bolts, made of compressed mana, destroyed the rings in midair. Alexis then rolled to the side, dodging a ring that carved up the ground where she had been kneeling. She ran around her foe and loaded another arrow.

"Cluster Shot!"

This time, all the mana bolts stayed together, zeroing in with perfect aim, but her enemy dodged with nimble movements. She had to get closer. She loaded another arrow and charged forward, avoiding the rings of enchanted wind hurled at her. The mage retreated, continuing to bombard her with attacks. The glowing circles flew through the air, carving through buildings, carts, stands, and everything else in their way. As long as the buildings were still standing, he didn't seem to care how much damage he did.

Alexis got in close and aimed her arrow straight at her enemy's chest. "Cluster Shot!"

She released the arrow at point-blank range, but the mage was ready. He conjured two rings around his wrists, larger and more powerful than the ones he had been throwing before, and used them to deflect the incoming barrage. Alexis didn't let disappointment slow her down. She rolled past him, dodging his counterattack, and loaded another mana-infused arrow.

"Burst Shot!" This time, rather than aiming for him, she aimed at the ground at his feet. The arrow struck the soil and exploded, sending the mage staggering back, disoriented from the shockwave and the resulting dust cloud. Alexis loaded three arrows. "Scatter Shot!"

She released all three at once, each enhanced with a volley of mana bolts. They flew towards her unguarded enemy, an unavoidable wall of death coming right at him. However, he was faster than Alexis expected, conjuring rings around his wrists and ankles and creating a defensive whirlwind that threw the incoming bolts off their trajectory. He defended against the three arrows and the accompanying mana bolts, but failed to block the fourth, perfectly timed to strike when his guard opened.

Finally, Alexis landed a genuine blow, planting the arrow in his gut and bombarding him with the bolts. Not only did he sustain an injury, but his robe was also shredded, leaving Alexis in shock. It was a woman, her tight-wrapped tunic and trousers giving away her feminine figure. Her shaved head jogged Alexis's memory.

"You were there at the knighting ceremony. Bojena Landon, gold-ranked knight of Uther," she gasped.

"That's right, Alexis Veres, expelled bronze-ranked knight," she replied as she yanked out the arrow in her gut.

"Do you even know what you're doing? You've betrayed your oaths and loyalty to the king!"

"My loyalty has always been absolute, but where it truly lies is with the church. The church took me in, raised me, educated me, trained me, just as it has so many others. Kings come and go, nations rise and fall, but the gods are eternal, and I serve them, body and soul."

"You're defending a crooked organization that wants total control over the nation!"

"I'm defending mankind's one true path to salvation. You think you're helping people with those books? All you're doing is distracting them, leading them astray, corrupting their minds with arrogance. Knowledge benefits our lives, but too much poisons our souls."

"Who are you to decide when it's too much? Who are the cardinals to decide that for people? No good can come from willing ignorance! You aren't helping anyone by keeping them in the dark!"

"Humans must be kept in the dark, because only then can they see the light of the divine. Tell me, do you know what the true meaning of prayer is? It is to ask for help and guidance, to admit that you don't have the answers. It is the ultimate act of humility. Those with knowledge, those with power, they see prayer as something beneath them, something unnecessary, because they believe themselves gods in their own right. They believe themselves the masters of their domain and their destiny, and that belief blinds them. Knowledge is power, and power corrupts."