Chapter 143 - Who Dares, Wins

Chapter 143

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

City of Rebirth

For a solid three seconds, only silence and stupor reigned as everyone stared at the maniac.

A maniac holding the medallion of an inquisitor in his other hand for all to see.

"Even if you were an inquisitor." There was something odd in the mercenary commander's tone, and Allya realized that it was fear. The commander was terrified of the inquisitor for some reason. "I have never, ever even touched a priest who had vows to his Divinity."

"Yes, you have. Novice Alyssa Thorngrave was a trainee of the Temple of Fire, and is under his servants' aegis."

"She bore no insigna! Nor did she wear the robes!"

"That is because she was a runaway. But runaway or not, she is protected and you will surrender."

Whatever fear of the inquisitor she had, the commander had to have overcome, because she towered over him as she stepped chest to face with him, anger radiating away from her in waves.

The inquisitor didn't even blink.

"Step lightly, 'inquisitor'. Your power is not infinite here."

"Correct. His isn't. Mine, however, is."

The tense standoff had made everyone ignore the completely lambda young woman making her way through the crowd until she burst through it and spoke.

Everyone looked her way…and Allya heard a cascade of audible gasps -including one of her own- as she saw the medallion of an adjudicator…and the half dozen inquisitors that accompanied her.

The mercenary commander took a step back.

"How-Why-"

"Miss Assaria Novalka. You are not in position to be asking questions." Said the adjudicator, softly. "In fact, you are not in position to do anything but surrender."

The commander's hand tightened around her sword, and for a split second Allya thought the woman would be crazy enough to strike down one of the God of Fire's angels.

But then the adjudicator touched her medallion, and the mercenary froze.

Everyone knew what that medallion represented. Through it, the adjudicator could summon a Custodian. And if she fell…the medallion would call to her masters, and one would arrive anyway, ready to strike down those who had slain one of the God of Fire's servants, and rain down his fury upon those who had defied His will.

So went the stories, at any rate.

Assaria let go of her sword, and her shoulders slumped slightly.

"I…"

"Do not think I need to encumber myself with prisoners." Said the adjudicator. "I am after much more pressing matters. But you and your company will peacefully surrender to the baroness' forces, and turn over your….what was it? Auxiliaries? Yes, auxiliaries, over so that they may be freed. Alive, and well, of course. Fail to do so…and suffer the fate of all of those who have opposed his Divinity's will."

The commander stared at the adjudicator, then nodded, almost convulsively, and gestured.

Most of her troops didn't need to be prompted, as they carefully set down their weapons, and put their hands up.

"Thank you, adjudicator." Managed to let out Allya.

"Do not thank me, Allya Aubétoile." Said the adjudicator as she glanced at the baroness. "I am but an instrument of His will."

Then she vanished, like she was never there.

Allya gazed at the spot where one of the most powerful persons on the planet was standing a few moments ago, and decided that questioning her presence could wait until after she had the people who had been about to tear through her entire guard force firmly into the deepest, dankest cells she could find. Plus she needed to make sure all the 'auxiliaries' were safe, and that was going to be its own headache.

"Take them away!" She ordered, and her troops went forth. Hesitatingly, mainly because of the inquisitor still holding the commander at sword point, but still.

And just another set of questions to add to the pile.

*****

"Damn it!" Yelled out Alexandra as the adjudicator left, slamming her fist on the armrest of her command seat so hard the reinforced metal bent.

"Well, that…solves the issue. Right?" Said Emilia as she gazed at the screen showing the stand off. The stealth golem had made itself very, very discreet while it recorded the unfolding situation, but having it there was still a risk. Knowing exactly what was going on however, was a definite plus. Of course they'd had to deploy a second one to monitor the warehouse for their strike team, but it was worth the cost.

"No. I mean, yes." Alexandra gritted her teeth. "It gets my teammates out intact. That's good. But these guys are just going to end up in custody. And not mine. Fuck."

"And you're worried about having them refuse to talk?"

"Yes. They're my only leads, damn it!"

Emilia opened her mouth, then closed it.

"You know, if they were working with your kidnappers as mercenaries…they had to have some kind of paperwork trail. Even for black ops stuff there are contracts."

"And what, snatch them? The only place they'd be is that secure container in the warehouse, and they have so many guards sneaking in isn't doable." If nothing else, she needed to use the golem's lockpicks to get inside a closed location, and that made some noise. For a place which wasn't under constant guard like the mercenary commander's downtown office, or Dominique's in the guild hall, that wasn't an issue. But there? Not possible. Besides, there was no guarantee she'd even manage to force the lock, even with Ella's disturbingly thorough expertise on the matter. "And I'm not going to do this without a casus belli."

"You…might not have to. If you're quick enough…the guards will have to surrender, right? And it'll take a bit for the baroness' troops to secure everyone and take whatever is in the container. And since it's sure to be complete pandemonium in there…"

"Are you seriously suggesting I sneak in a golem in the middle of a bust on armed mercenaries and slavers?" Emilia nodded, and Alexandra grinned. "That's crazy. But it's my kind of crazy. Let's do this. Worst comes to worst…well, the stealth golems have a self destruct for a reason, don't they?"

*****

Assaria's second in command stepped over the bodies of the two soldiers, and opened the container, the enchantments flashing as they scanned her mana signature and unlocked. It was a modified version of a shipping container the Eris Empire's Autonomous Threat Removal Bureau used, made for total and absolute security. No one could spy into it using divination enchantment, and a forceful entry would end rather badly. The company dragged it around whenever they moved their base of operation, and while it might be a bitch to transport, it was also their greatest guarantee of safety.

She stepped in as the door closed behind her. When she'd seen the platoons of soldiers moving towards the warehouse, she'd immediately rushed there, but they'd gone even faster than she'd thought. She had counted on their troops at least putting up some resistance, but not on the town having fucking inquisitors heading their arrest parties! Plus they brought a handful of officers from Assaria's detachment, and summoned everyone to lay down their weapons.

Faced with their commander's obvious defeat, and His Divinity's Most Holy Inquisition, no one had dared raise their sword.

Except for her. Their men might break and blabber about their contracts, but without what was in this container, there would be no proof, and they wouldn't be hauled before the Custodians. After all, it wouldn't have been the first time the Order had used decoys to distract their foes when they got too close to something they wished kept hidden.

She opened the crate containing the documents, gazing at them for a second. Those unassuming papers would have been enough to sign the death warrant of her entire company, had the Order known. And while she was tempted to use them as leverage, she was also acutely aware that the Custodians did not forget or forgive. The only thing they would do by bringing them forward is getting a death sentence.

There was a reason why the Order had so few of those that helped them betray them after all. That and the fact that they treated their associates really well.

She reached for the incendiary grenade on her belt, and gasped as she felt a prick on her neck.

The second in command whirled around, and her eyes went wide as she saw a…spider? On the ceiling. It was cloaked, too, some kind of…chameleon…coating.

The neurotoxin took hold, and she fell down on the floor as her brain failed, her mouth filling with foam as her nervous system went mad.

And a split second later, her being was torn screaming from her body, as the spider activated the soul sealing spell.

*****

"-are all in custody. There were some isolated incidents, but no large scale resistance." Said Anders as he finished his report.

Allya nodded.

"That's good. I heard one of those incidents involved some fatalities?"

"Yes ma'am. One of their high ranking officers killed five of my men, before apparently destroying document and killing herself with some sort of neurotoxin."

"Can they be resurrected?"

"Our troops? Certainly. But the officer had some sort of soul sealing spell placed on her."

"Mmmhhh. Problematical." And it begged some more questions. The only reason one of the mercenaries would sacrifice themselves to destroy some documents was because they were even more compromising than what they'd already done. It also denoted a level of loyalty that she really didn't come to expect in mercs. That or…something else. "What about our…helpers?"

Anders winced, and gazed over his shoulder at the warehouse, where a handful of inquisitors were overseeing the prisoner intake.

"The inquisitors have been nothing if not courteous. They are, however, not very talkative. They've assisted and guided our troops, but I am fairly sure some have taken in some documents and evidence. It's hard to tell." He licked his lips. "If nothing else, the second in command's death…"

"Would almost seem suspicious, if it wasn't for the inquisition not having to bother with such artifices."

"Yes ma'am."

Unfortunately, that wasn't reassuring for Allya. Because she did know someone who would bother with such a thing…someone she knew had access to military grade neurotoxins and had the will to use them.

Which was why she was resolutely decided not to investigate the matter further. Not while she had the inquisition there at any rate!

"Alright then, I will leave you to it. If you would be so kind as to debrief the slaves as well? I'm sure they'll have plenty to tell us about our new prisoners."

"Of course ma'am. Speaking of which, guildmaster Starvak and representative Dominique dropped by earlier. They wanted me to convey their most sincere thanks for your assistance."

"Dropped by?"

"They came to collect the captured adventurers. They…might have argued with the inquisitors."

"They what."

"Guildmaster Starvak apparently wished to meet with the captive healer, the one who turned out to be a runaway novice. The inquisitors…were not interested. My men did not hang around to find out how the conversation ended, but the guildmaster seemed in good spirits when he left."

Allya's eyebrows rose. The guildmaster had won an argument with the inquisition? That was…not that out of character for him, actually.

Especially since, as a Knight-Valiant, she'd been made aware that His Divinity's inquisitors were amenable to pragmatic compromises. They were there to deliver results after all.

Which begged the question of what, exactly, he had offered them to gain their cooperation.

Allya shook herself internally. There would be time for those questions later. For now she had to find a way to handle a lot of extremely powerful mercs in her prisons. Wasn't that going to be a joy.

Fortunately, she had a pretty good idea. Well, 'she', Sylvia had actually made the suggestion. The buxom -and infuriatingly horny- pirate captain could come up with some pretty good ones, when the luscious woman wasn't lusting after her. She wasn't sure how Crystal was going to react to her proposition however, but it was worth a shot.

After all, if there was one person that had the installations to contain and if necessary, kill, lots of high level individuals, it was a dungeon core!