Chapter 58: Nobody expects them.

Viv decided to just give him an abridged version, which took about five minutes with one instance of teary eyes and three of copious swearing. Then Viv asked the valiant knight the question that had been burning her tongue.

“So, will you return to the city?”

“I’d rather not or I’ll be liable to do something that everyone will regret,” the old inquisitor grumbled.

“Aw, and I was really looking forward to a warm bath,” Orkan added, dejected.

“Orkan. Tact.”

“Sorry.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“We discovered the lost iron mine of Min Goles recently, the facilities are intact but not really secure. It’s still better than staying out in the open or fighting the mountain folk for their land. I think we should go there first, then advise. I have a few ideas.”

“Ideas for what.”

“For retaking Kazar, of course.”

Denerim watched her with an expression of polite disbelief.

“And, pray tell, how do you plan on doing that?”

“First we need to see if it is at all possible. The good news is that I managed to take a prisoner from a squadron of cavalrymen who left to pursue us. I was thinking about interrogating him.”

“Oh yes, we can help with that.”

“Good, he should still be at the edge of the camp. Oh, and are you familiar with the concept, errr, good guard bad guard?”

“No?”

“It’s when one interrogator acts nice while the other threatens.”

“Oh yes, we use it sometimes. Why, do you want to be good guard?”

“No. Let me demonstrate. Solfis?”

The hunched form of the battle golem emerged from the shadowy recess where he had hid himself not to ruin Viv’s groove. Fully deployed, he was almost twice the size of Denerim, who himself was not a small man.

“By Neriad’s balls,” the old knight said in a hushed voice.

//I can do threats.

“I have no doubt. Tell me golem… are you a danger to us?”

Solfis’ yellow glare landed squarely on the inquisitor. Viv hurried to speak.

“Solfis is on my side and he is not a vulgar monster. He will not commit any heinous act or anything. He is protecting me, that is all.”

“And if he decides that killing us protects you?” Denerim asked in a deceptively low voice.

Viv had grown familiar enough with the golem to detect when he was his own inorganic, slightly psychotic brand of amused.

//You should pray to your god.

//That it never happens.

“Oi. Solfis is rational, he’s been in Kazar for as long as I have and he didn’t go on a secret murderous spree, did he? Can we focus on the matter at hand?”

Denerim glared one last time, before signaling Viv that he was ready to go. They found the surviving cavalryman under the surveillance of a few angry guards. He was showing signs of desperation.

“I should have died with honor, like my men,” he said to no one in particular.

“Well, it’s too late now. For the honor part, I mean,” Viv told him.

The guards move aside and the officer does his best to avoid Solfis’ glare. He perked up when the inquisitors came into view.

“Sir, sir! This madwoman, you have to stop her! She controls a monster! Please, free me from these evil people!”

Denerim smiled. The intense sadness in the old knight’s expression surprised Viv. It was not a kind smile.

“Do you have any idea how many corpses I have seen? Not of soldiers mind you, though I have seen plenty of that as well. I am talking about villages raided by bandits or bored nobles playing their little games. It’s always the same kind of people staring at me from the ground with confusion. They have so many questions too. Why me? I’m just following orders. This family I rode down had been declared outlaw or criminal or some such. I’m just carrying my duty. The little boy whose bones I cracked under my hooves was a rebel, like his peasant father, so I didn’t do anything wrong. They don’t understand that what is legal and what is right are two entirely different things. You don’t either. And I’m not wasting time on explaining it to you, so I’ll give you a choice. You can answer my questions…”

Denerim pointed at Solfis’ form, still smiling.

“Or you can answer that thing. While I watch.”

“You don’t have the right to do that,” the officer said, “you’re an inquisitor of Neriad! You have to help m—”

Denerim’s iron glove closed on the man’s mouth, muffling his complaints. He had moved faster than Viv could perceive.

“You lot always forget that Neriad is the god of righteous war. Somehow, you always forget the war part. Time is up. Me, or the golem.”

“You. You!”

The old knight turned his eyes to the clouds above, sighing.

“How predictable. If you were truly wise… you would have picked the golem.”

Gold light exploded from the inquisitor’s kneeling form. His hair stood up as if under the influence of electricity, and his eyes were now two orbs of molten gold. The sight terrified Viv. She felt judged and measured, even while standing in the side. The effects on the man were far more terrible. He screamed, a low keening sound that grew sharper as the light gained in intensity. Denerim’s voice fell like a thunderclap.

“Know what they endured.”

Just as it had started, the phenomenon faded and yet, behind the slightly malodorous smell of the camp, Viv smelled the rarified air of a mountain, crisp and frigid. Denerim looked sad and drained, but the officer looked much worse. He was a broken man, mewling and begging.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know!”

“Answer our questions.”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Viv watched with amazement and a bit of disgust at the cavalryman spewing everything he knew at the smallest prompt. There was something fundamentally wrong with the whole process that Viv understood, even without feeling the strange mana scouring the person’s… soul. Torture was an inherently evil process. This was worse. The man had been brainwashed in an extremely violent and unforgiving way. It suddenly occurred to her that Denerim and Orkan were inquisitors, or that’s how her skill translated their title, and that inquisitors were not nice to begin with. She leaned towards the junior member of the pair as Denerim listened to the number of troops the prince had brought.

“What is going on?” she asked.

“He made him feel what his victims endured. It’s a very draining and traumatic experience for the inquisitor, or so I’ve been told. I can’t do it yet. You think this is bad? Rapists and murderers get it much worse.”

“Lady… Viv?” Denerim asked, articulating her name.

“Yeah?”

“If you have questions…”

“Oh yes. How long will the prince stay?”

The cavalryman blinked his tears away.

“In Kazar? Hmm, I’m not sure.”

“But he is set to leave soon?”