Ketil's face lost its color, his heart stopping in his chest. "What do you mean, they have Dante?!"
Raziel looked to both of them, his mouth open but no words coming out.
"What the hell do you mean?! Speak!"
He finally did, his voice shaking. "Anubis sent her to run an errand. I saw the Inquisitors pick her up!"
"Damn them! How did they know?" Ketil grabbed the poker from the fire, the iron tip glowing white from the heat. "I'll kill them!"
"They must have one of us on their side! Ketil, there are five of them. They're scouting the entire town! They have weapons too!"
He pushed past Raziel, looking back to Jameson. "Watch the prisoner. Does Anubis know?"
He shook his head, "you were the first I could find! Vasco and I are useless here. I think you're useless too."
"I refuse that." Ketil slipped into the hallways, "find Anubis—take Jameson with you!"
The skeleton of a man stepped forward, "can I do anything to help?"
"Can you shoot a gun?" Ketil tried to hide the desperation in his voice. "Are you willing to kill someone?"
Jameson's eyebrows shot up and he hesitated. "That girl saved my life, I figure I owe her that much."
Ketil stared back at Raziel. "Get the others. Dante better fight—she promised me. She promised she wouldn't hesitate. Drass, Dante!" He turned and ran down the stairs of the inn, running into the cold outside.
Cold wind tore through his body, thin shirt no match for the chill. He didn't allow himself time to shiver, he clutched the cast-iron poker in tight fists. He snarled as he moved deeper into town, following the tracks in the snow. There were Dante's small tracks and then the marks of men with heavy boots. He ran faster, letting panic drive him forward.
He felt his lips curl up into a snarl as he saw the crowd gathered in the middle of the square. Three men stood on solid gallows, a small girl between them. The gallows were made from stone and wood—not the usual temporary structures that most towns tore down and reassembled every time a criminal or riesun was discovered. This town was no stranger to public hangings.
Dante stood between the men, her hands tied behind her back. She stared at her feet, brows knitted together, as the gloved men adjusted their grip on her arms. She wanted someone to rescue her. She didn't want to spill any blood. Dante never wanted to kill someone and with her ability....
Ketil adjusted the poker in his hand as another man stepped onto the podium. His long dark hair cascaded down his shoulders, fur cape around his shoulders and white gloves over his fingers. He smiled to the crowd, a small cry going through them. Ketil stared at him as he waved, acting more like a celebrity than an Inquisitor.
Ketil took a step back, this was all so wrong.
The man on the podium waved again, silencing the small crowd. He removed his left glove, showing a mark to the crowd. The mark of the house of Tsar Reznik burned black into his flesh.
Ketil felt his heart leap forward at the sight. A riesun working for the Tsar. A riesun working for the Tsar to identify his brethren. Scum, that's what he was.
He regloved his hand, looking to Dante. "My name is Viktor Roet, I am a riesun sent to do the Tsar's bidding. I am sent to find and destroy the plague that cursed our land in the years following the plague!"
A cry of support went through the crowd as he turned to Dante.
His lips curled up into a smile and he touched her face. "Hello, little girl. What is your name?"
Dante bit her lip, staying silent. He grabbed her by the arm. The girl cried out and he gripped her chin in his hand, jerking her head to face him. She jerked away, eyes meeting Ketil's for a split second. The Tsar's riesun slapped her across the face, grabbing her by the blouse. "I asked you a question, you little bi—"
"Touch her again and I'll rip that hand off." Ketil interrupted. "How would you like to die?" He spit at him, "picking on little girls? What a coward."
The crowd turned to face him and Viktor Roet smiled. "Another one? Hmmm..." he looked up at the sky as if a snake tasting the air. "You're nearly undetectable. Interesting, boy."
The crowd instantly parted for Ketil, giving him space. No now wanted to touch something as unclean as a riesun. They were curses, plagues, nothing good could come from them.
Ketil straightened up, showing off his height. "You want me? You will have to come and get me." He muttered, hoisting his poker up to the crowd. "Release her and fight me like a man."
"Ketil, just stay back." Dante muttered and Roet grabbed her by the hair.
Roet pointed to Ketil. "Seize him."
The crowd parted even more, two Inquisitors striding toward him. They unsheathed sabers, chins raised and eyes focused on him.
Ketil snickered, poker raised to them. "Come on, you bunch of bastards."
The crowd backed up again as the larger Inquisitor rushed him, saber raised. Ketil lifted the poker, striking the first man in the shin. The Inquisitor fell backward, sweeping last moment to slash Ketil's chest. He knelt against the ground, looking up to see the other man's saber arcing towards him. Ketil lifted up his weapon above his head, standing as they both struggled against the other's will.
Ketil finally dodged him, falling back as the other man rose to his feet, swinging the sword with a grunt. He raised the weapon, the sound of metal on metal cutting through the crowd. Ketil stood to his feet, stabbing at the Inquisitor with the blunt end.
Ketil laughed, "I've fought better men in my sleep!" He smashed the end of his weapon against the Inquisitor's face.
A cry went through the crowd as the man fell back, blood spurting across the snow. He fell silent, unmoving.
Dead?
Good.
Ketil raised his weapon again. "Do you want to keep fighting?"
Two others rushed forward at him and he struck another across the face, grabbing his saber as he fell. Ketil laughed as he held up his new weapon. He caught another blade between his two weapons, kicking the Inquisitor back before slashing through his face.
The Inquisitor let out a scream as Ketil adjusted his grip on the saber, pressing the tip to his throat. Blood dripped from the thick gash over his face. He let out another cry of pain, attempting to blow the blood away from his mouth. The gash cut through his eye and lips, surprisingly smooth.
He let out a cry as Ketil pressed the tip of his saber against the man's Adam's apple. "Please."
There was so much in that please, but Ketil didn't listen to that side. He didn't want to die. Who did want to die? Certainly not the ones his kind had thrown on the scaffold or pyre.
"You have stolen so much." His hands shook a little as the other Inquisitor stopped. "I should kill you. I should slice your throat open and leave you for the dogs."
Ketil instead raised the bloody iron poker, "but you are not mine to kill. The others deserve to be the one to take your final breath." He dropped the saber, and struck him across the face. The inquisitor dropped to his knees, Ketil looked to the remaining Inquisitor.
He raised his arm to strike another blow, but the Inquisitor caught it in his hands, wrenching it away. He threw it behind him, wiping blood away from his forehead.
"I am going to enjoy this," he grunted, wiping his hand across his face.
He threw a punch, Ketil just barely ducking to avoid him. He was caught off balance and the Inquisitor kicked him back.
He fell back, scrambling as the man looked down at him with blood smeared across his forehead. Ketil reached for his weapon, but it was out of his reach.
He didn't die like this. He didn't die once just to die like this.
He reared his foot back, kicking Ketil in the jaw. Ketil fell back, blood filling his mouth. He licked his lips, tasting more blood.
Dante was screaming his name. She wasn't panicked enough to actually do anything, but she was screaming.
He wouldn't die like this. He refused.
Ketil let out a stifled scream as the boot struck him again in the groin. Tears filled his eyes and he turned onto his side, pain filling his body as the kicks kept coming as he drove his toe into the man's spine. He curled up into the fetal position, hands over his neck and head.
Ketil let out a cry of pain, fingers reaching for a rock or anything to free himself.
There was a curse and a shadow covered him. The kicks stopped. Ketil uncovered his head, to see Anubis, her arms and hands bare. She pushed the man back, grabbing Ketil's hand and hoisting him back onto his feet.
His body ached and his eyes teared up as he hunched over a little. He let out a small moan, straightening up.
The Inquisitor stepped back, dark eyebrows furrowed as he took her in. Her lips said try me, but her eyes warned against it.
Ketil wiped blood from his face, teeth clicking together with cold. "Anubis, what are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
She bared her teeth at the Inquisitor, looking back to Ketil. "You are a literal child, Østberg. And oh, don't mind me, I'm simply saving your scrawny ass."
The Inquisitor lunged forward, grabbing her by the arm. He immediately sank to his knees and fell. He went limp, eyes open to the sky and mouth opened, an expression of surprise burned into his features.
Anubis frowned as she looked down at the dead or unconscious Inquisitors. She looked to the remaining crowd with a savage smile. "Men are always doing that around me. Fascinating, isn't it? It's as if I am a version of Medusa. And that's where the myths get it wrong. The victim is rarely solely the victim, because history, after all, is written by the victors. And if there is one thing I have learned from myth and history, Mr. Roet, it's that I do not enjoy the rule of those heroes."
The crowd immediately stepped away from her, falling back in a mad scramble to flee.
A few horses stomped into the square and Ketil looked up to see Vasco beside him. Jameson lifted a gun, the thin man's eyes devoid of emotion. Raziel strayed towards the back, his gloves tight over his hands.
Vasco smiled, kicking at him playfully. "Need some backup, Prince?"
"This is almost like deja vu of the Weeping family," he whispered.
Anubis grabbed his arm, focusing him to Dante.
Why hadn't she moved? Why hadn't she fought? Why was she just standing up there with a sour face and teary eyes? Why didn't she act?!
Roet gripped Dante by the back of the neck, grabbing a blade from his belt. "You are the plague sent to destroy us! You must be extinguished! All of you!"
"Hmmm... that wasn't very kind of you," Vasco muttered, his eyebrows knitted together. "I don't think I like you all too much."
Roet looked to them with a scientist's eye now, his head slightly tilted. "There are six of you...fascinating."
"Actually," Anubis pointed to Jameson, "he's only human. Equally as terrible, but sadly human."
Ketil stepped forward and Roet pressed the tip of the blade to Dante's throat. Their eyes met and he urged her silently to do something. There was a difference between unnecessary murder and self-defense.
Anubis shook her head at him. "I would release her now. Perhaps save yourself."
"Now what will you do? What will you do to save the precious little girl. I have a duty to the Tsar, a duty that you will not stop me from accomplishing. There may be six of you, but I can take this one before you reach the scaffold. You can kill me but my soul will be free." Roet looked to the group of them standing in the empty street.
"You are the scum of the earth and no mercy should be spared to those like you who hunt down their own kind. You murder and kill." Anubis straightened up, lips curled into a snarl.
Roet laughed, "I think you have us confused."
Anubis spit at him, hands balled into fists. She looked to him, holding up her hand to reveal the symbol carved into her palm. "I thought you might want to know what group you're dealing with." She smiled as the color drained from his face, she looked down to Dante. "Don't hold back."
Dante let out a small cry, her lips moving with a silent prayer. Her eyes met Ketil's and he nodded. She nodded back.
Roet started to speak but he was already too enveloped in this game.
A drop of blood fell from his nose, followed by another drop and then a torrent of red. Dante moved away from the blood, but his knife still held onto her. He coughed, blood spotting his lips and skin as it began to roll down his cheeks from his eyes, from his mouth and nose, rolling over his lips and chin.
"You can kill me, but you will never stop those like me." His body was shaking, the color quickly draining from his face. "You can never stop us! Long live the Tsar!"
His clothes were beginning to become saturated with it, his hands shaking. Dante touched the knife at her throat, taking it from his shaking hands. She stepped away from him as the torrent of blood pooled under his feet. He swayed once, dropping to his knees and falling forward.
He let out a gasp as the blood continued to pool around him as if the floodgates had been recklessly thrown open. Roet began to spasm slowly, his arms and legs twitching as the puddle only grew.
Ketil ran forward from the group as Dante ran down the steps and collapsed into his arms. She grabbed onto Ketil tightly, her hands streaked with blood. She grasped onto his shirt, sobbing into his chest. Ketil dropped the poker, embracing her. She shook from exhaustion, laying her head against his chest.
"Shhh, calm down. I've got you." he whispered. He licked the blood from his lips, feeling an ache over his body. He ignored the pain and held onto the girl. "Calm down, I'm not going to let you go that easy."
She sobbed.
"Dante, don't ever hesitate. Don't ever hesitate to do what you did. You did the right thing. Now calm down."
He held onto her tight as she cried into his chest. He looked to Anubis with a frown and she nodded subtly in response.
Dante wasn't strong enough for this.
They had made a terrible decision.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
