The messenger from the church had expected something different when he made his move on the tall lanky bard. As he walked back into the crowd and disappeared from view, back into the obscurity of the dark, he mused at how well that had gone.
Now if the man had stopped to think about it he would have realized just how easy they all gave up.
He might have also wondered should he have kept a better eye on Rennish, the Prophet, and his heathen wife.
The man slept better than he should have that night. Which was a blessing. Guard/Guide duty was one of his least favorite chores. If he couldn't coerce or torture someone into admitting to heresy he really didn't have a complete workday. Like most of the rest of his coworkers, they had volunteered for the Inquisitors more for the fringe benefits of inflicting pain. They were true believers in the church and absolute true believers in the pain they could pass to anyone who opposed them.
Having to do this kind of escort work was meant for the "brothers" of the regular church who were used to doing holy work. He had no idea why they hadn't been sent for this kind of thing. The only thing he could muster out of his head was that his coworkers were all used to blending in to foreign environments. The "brothers" all stood out like a sore thumbs.
The morning came and he prepared himself by leaving town before dawn. He got a head start and waited just outside of town. He could watch from a tree line near the road around a bend and keep an eye on his prey with the knowledge he wasn't likely to be seen.
Erust, Rennish, and Ashra were in their cart headed north around the bend on schedule. They looked carefree almost, the inquisitor felt the smallest pang of disappointment. He had hoped they would change their mind and run. He had dreams of having to slice the Felisine woman to coerce the prophet into cooperating.
He hadn't planned on what happened next though.
When the inquisitor made his way north he moved on a straight-line pattern staying just behind them out of direct sight. As the road made its final bend before crossing over a creek the carriage stopped. It pulled off the trail into a clearing setup for final checks. The trio got out of the carriage and took care of personal business before getting out their lunch.
He sighed at how completely normally they looked, acting as if nothing was really happening. They treated this as just another day in the life of someone claiming to work for the gods.
He began to walk towards the cart. There were four glasses set up on a small table pulled from the side of the cart. The woman was setting up small loaves of bread stuffed with left-overs from the night before.
The man stepped right up to the point where he was going to breach the treeline when his body stopped moving.
Panic flooded his mind and his body went into flight mode. He tried to look for the reason for his sudden paralysis, but none showed up. He couldn't move his head. His hands were frozen. His body felt like a soft padded bag of cotton around his soul. He was cut off from the rest of his form. Something was holding him upright or he was certain he would have crumpled to the ground. For once he felt the kind of panic that those at his mercy were used to feeling.
Had he been able to feel anything he would have felt the hot breath on his neck. "You know I really hate intruders." The voice startling him. He fought with all his power to try and force his body to respond. "You church idiots really can be gullible."
Was it the bard? Someone else? How were they doing this?
"I severed your brain's connection to the rest of your body. I am sure you have been desperate to move at all" The voice switched sides on his head. He saw his hand being held up in front of his face. "You are my puppet now. I control your body."
"God damn bard!" The inquisitor thought to himself as he looked for signs of a shadow or anything that would give him some sort of information.
"Who Rennish? No, he hates violence. I, on the other hand, have been forced to deal with more than I ever wanted to recently." The voice moved back over to his right ear.
"Do you know what I learned while fighting a god? You fight dirty. If I can kill a god do you think you are any kind of threat?" The voice boasted giving the only clue the man needed.
"Erust... this is very un-prophet like." He thought to himself.
"Yes, I'm sure you guessed by now." Erust was using mana and divine power to hold the man's body upright. "You see across the way are simple puppets I made from hay and cloth last night. They will drive the cart and make lunch and then sit down and stop moving. You waited until you saw them go about their business."
The man tried to swallow but only got halfway down, he choked on the last bit. He was trying everything he knew of to break free, every trick the church taught him to avoid capture by heretics.
"I should have just stabbed you all in my sleep...." He mustered as the saliva dribbled from his lips.
"You wouldn't have made it past Ashra. She doesn't like to fight but she would kill for me. For a marriage born of an accident she is incredibly faithful..." Erust dragged the man back by his neck and leaned him against a tree.
"So what now? If you kill me the church will come after you! They know what I was supposed to do." He looked around, malice replaced the fear in his mind as he started to think he wasn't going to die.
Arrogance is a useful tool, one that an Inquisitor needs. They have to know they are right, you can't push a torture session far enough if you aren't absolutely sure you are right. How can you get to the truth if you aren't certain you have the truth?
Even at this moment, he was certain he was going to escape. He was certain that the prophet and his companions would cave and set him free. He was certain that he would murder them as soon as they relaxed their grip on him.
A female form walked into his view. He couldn't see the face but he knew it had to be the Felis woman. "The church huh? You would think they would send a real emissary for you. Not this snake in black cloth."
Another voice popped up from the back. This time he recognized the bard immediately. "I think they would prefer snakes to rats. They had a real problem with rats."
"Really Rennish?" Erust looked over his shoulder. "Fine time for a joke."
Rennish shrugged, "I think it's true. And I think it's a fitting description. They scurry around like rats destroying anything left behind. Sneaking into things that people have stored away. Spreading disease and misfortune."
Ashra looked at Erust. "Is this true?"
Erust kept his hand on the man. "Yes, the inquisitors are the black arm of the church. The church has a powerful hold over the northern lands. They are the government, unlike here where you have a council. Your knights help hold power through justice. These hold power through any means necessary. When the church can't do it through love and religion these people step in..."
Ashra walked over and put a hand on Erust. "What do you think we should do?"
"Well, where ever they wanted him to take us probably wasn't a welcoming committee. They weren't going to serve us cake and wine." Erust sighed and pushed the man to the ground. "The church won't admit they sent him, but they won't forget it either."
"What is your plan then?" Rennish piped in from behind the Inquisitor.
"Well, it's hard to tell if found us if they can't find him," Erust said with a smile. Compared to killing a god, killing this man would keep other people from falling to his torture.
The next morning the trio got up and cleared up camp as if nothing had happened. Ashra made a hot breakfast and dusted out their bedrolls. Erust got the Lloras tied back up to the cart. Rennish was sitting at the edge of the woods looking at the tree from the previous night.
He kneeled down at the base of the tree and looked at the disturbed grass. It was the only sign of what happened the night before. "You really should have killed us, if that was your goal." Rennish hadn't expected to see Erust use his power to push the body down into the dirt. He completely rearranged his body, turning him from flesh and blood into rock and dirt. His screams slowly faded as his lungs were filled with soil. If anyone dug the soil his body would come back as oddly colored dirt. It was the perfect way to hide a body. Rennish cringed as he wondered what the split in his soul had done to Ed's body to make this half capable of thinking of this. It was grisly and horribly effective.
Rennish stood up and tugged at his clothes to get them all straight. "Erust! Everything tied back up?"