Royal Criminal: Chapter 2 – Never Sure

Chapter 2 – Never Sure

“Ahaziah! Dinner is ready!” my mother says.

I hastily drop my fishing rod, head into the house, and quickly take my seat at the table only to find very few fish, some salad, and fruit for dinner. The fish is seasoned in a special way that only my mother can and the salad and fruit look good, but it’s still disappointing to look at. After saying grace, we eat and I can’t help but think about the circumstances behind this meal.

“Is something wrong?” my father asks me.

“No, no. I’m fine,” I say. “It’s just that I thought we’d have a bigger meal today because we’ve been selling so much.”

“We’ve been donating as much to the Church, Holy Land, and needy in equal measure. We have a sufficient amount to eat so don’t worry about that and eat as much as you want.”

I smile and try to keep my feelings from showing since I know that my parents will argue with me. The poverty of our meals is something that I don’t mind too much. It’s the reason behind it. Donating food to the Church and needy is one thing but giving it to the governing body of the Holy Land is another. This land that was given by God to His chosen people that inhabit it to this day is ruled by one man, Evander, who is the oldest living man to have ever lived since he was forever changed due to the events of the war that ended the future. Because he’s wise and old enough to remember the days when ships sailed the sky and stars and when the sprawling cities weren’t in ruins and lit up like the night sky, he was given authority over the Holy Land and everyone in it. It’s because of him and our hoarding of the last of the technology of the past that people are waging war against us and everyone in it has to give as much as we can to our allies and nation.

Why can’t he just share it? Sure, the other nations misused the technology and were transformed as a result, but I’m sure the craftsmen of Equus or the knowledge scholars of Polypus could better use and research it. I wouldn’t even mind him handing it over to the orcs of Bernhard and the fiery men of Canis just so they can stop their relentless assault against us. This world has been at war for too long because of the relics of the past and it’s about time it was stopped and we moved on from it. Someone must convince him and our leaders to change their minds either with reason or force.

My remanence of the past stops when I hear the doors of the Church my guards and I open. I stop looking out the small, armored window of the saferoom to see Escribar is back from his reconnaissance.

“I’m glad to see you’ve made it back in one peace, my friend. What have you discovered?” I ask.

“The city is infested by beastmen. Every way out is guarded by them, even the ports,” Escribar says.

“But what have you discovered about the source of the magic? This can’t simply be the work of tainted, pagan beastmen magic. It’s incredibly reminiscent of high elf magic.”

“I’ve seen their ritual circles in the back alleys and certain buildings. In them, I’ve seen robed figures but I couldn’t tell who they were.”

The high elves are known not only for their virtue but also for their cunning and trickery. They’ve not so recently let their victim status from the past, blessings from God, and political and military power get to their heads, and above them all is the oldest living man, Evander. Even though done my penance, changed, and been given the honor of becoming Pope, I haven’t had much contact with him nor has he let me know his greater plans for the Church and the world. I know he’s planning something and have known it before the people of the Holy Land became elves. It’s as if he and his most trusted allies are above the Church’s leadership.

My instincts tell me they have something to do with them not only because of the high elf magic that’s been used but also because of me being the target of the attack. The high elves have never liked the people who lived in the region of Abaddon where the dark elves like I live even before we turned against them, so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that they’re involved somehow. If they are, there will be Hell to pay for the shedding of innocent blood. They’ll regret not killing me first, however, now that I think about it, that could’ve been part of the plan seeing as how I wasn’t wearing my papal helmet and they could’ve simply shot me in the face and sent a majority of the beastmen after me rather than focusing on the guards and the civilians.

“Your Holiness, Ahaziah,” Escribar says.

“Excuse me. I was just considering the possible reasons behind the attack,” I admit.

“I know you well enough to say that you’re thinking that the high elves have something to do with it. Also, I know that we should reserve judgment and focus on what’s in front of us first.”

“You’re right, my friend. We shall first disrupt where the beastmen and their allies are conducting their rituals so they cannot use their profaned magic against us.”

My bias of wanting to figure out who’s behind this is coming out. Still, Escribar and the guards agree seeing how it was effectively used against us to severely cripple our forces. The knights of Serpentis step forward and bow down on one knee before me. They wear light armor and pointed hats and attire inspired by the confraternity of capirote penitents and are armed with short swords, crossbows, bows, rapiers, and flails with incense in them.

“We offer our lives to God and to you, Your Holiness,” their leader says. “Send us in first.”

The remaining guards from Equus come forward and kneel before me as well. In contrast to the capirote knights, these guards are heavily armored and carry heavy shields, lances, spears, large hammers, and greatswords like mine.

“Your Holiness, let us join our brothers in battle,” their leader says. “They’ll need someone to defend them as they recklessly head into battle. We’ll be the shield to their swords.”

“We’ll gladly accept their help as long as we get to try their armor afterward.”

“We’ll accept that as well as long as you teach us how you can be so resilient without armor.”

“Only if you get more kills than we do.”

“Deal.”

“Haha, you’ve made up your minds already and decided what to do by yourselves. You have my blessing. I will let you have the honor of putting down our enemies but try not to let your brotherly competition blind you during battle.”

“Yes, sir, Your Holiness,” they both say.

Escribar then takes the lead to show us the places where the rituals are taking place. Both the capirote knights and armored guards of Equus throw themselves into battle and efficiently take down their foes with Equus leading the charge and taking the brunt of the enemy’s attack while the capirote knights overwhelm them with their relentless assault. During our counterattack, we are able to save civilians and other guards in the city and uncover the identities of the men in robed figures. Among them are rogue mages from Polypus, Canis, and even a couple of dark elves. Hmm. I wonder what brought these people together.

To find out the reason behind the attack, we take a couple of the rogue men and beastmen alive for questioning during our next assault at the final ritual location since we now have cleared out most of their forces and can interrogate them without the threat of intrusion in a safe area we’ve managed to carve out in the city. It was hard to get these few to begin with since most others, especially the beastmen, killed themselves so they wouldn’t be taken in alive. Curiously enough, the beastmen we managed to restrain and question seem to be confused after they calmed down and say they weren’t completely aware of what they were doing and claim to have been under the influence of controlling voices.

“I don’t believe you for a second. He’s just saying that to save his life,” one of the capirote knights says.

“Please, you have to believe me! I don’t even know where I am,” a man who is half-cat says.

The people of Serpentis have faced the brunt of the rogue beastmen’s attacks since theirs is the kingdom closest to the Atlantic Ocean and the far western kingdom of the United Kingdoms of the Americas where the beastmen are said to originate from. As a result, they view them in a more negative light, are quick to attack any who reach their shores and don’t follow everything they say. I can relate a bit since I feel the same way about high elves.

“I believe them,” I say.

“Really? I find it hard to believe such good natured beasts could be so easily manipulated,” a capirote knight says.

Questioning the other non-beastmen next, they don’t reveal much either than they were hired by a group that didn’t reveal their identities and paid upfront for their efforts. Seeing as the beastmen we have are the most reliable, I allow them to be free of their restraints while throwing the mercenaries into a locked room chained up and guarded by a squad of knights. The capirote knights feel uneasy about my decision but accept it anyway and put their faith in me.

“Thank you, thank you so much, Your Holiness,” a beastman who is part hawk says. “We’ve heard about there being a Pope in the European continent but didn’t know it was a dark elf, especially after what was said about your kind.”

“Yes, well, I’ve earned the title of Pope thanks to God’s graces and am blessed to be His earthly head of His Church. Now, tell me more about these voices,” I say.

“They were like the sounds of temptation, but I don’t think it was demons who put a spell on us, though I’m also not sure if the person who spoke was a servant of them or not. I’m afraid I can’t tell you much.” The beastman then stops as if hit by a sudden feeling. “Wait, no, I can remember the feeling and sound of the voice as if it were a distant memory.”

The other beastmen start to agree until one says, “Hold on! This could be the voice trying to get to us again! Restrain and get away from us for your own safety!”

One of the guards I’ve had on watch runs to me and says, “We have a stampede of beasts heading towards us!”

“More beastmen?” a capirote asks.

“No, actual beasts who are being ridden by elves!”