Joseph didn't look dead to me. His arm had blocked some of the impact, and the tip of the arrowhead wasn't embedded deep enough to cause major internal damage. A cracked rib was the best he could hope for. Tahar had knocked him out cold, which meant that John didn't have any backup left to come and help him.
I'd fucked up.
I called out to her; "Go back and watch the others!"
Mercifully, she did as I asked and leapt back across the way, disappearing from my sight – and more importantly giving me a better chance of rigging this fight to let John live. The long blade jutting outwards from my gut was problematic. I let go of Stigma for a moment and clutched the hilt with both hands, letting out a shout of pain as I forced it free from my body. The bloodstained blade clattered to the ground.
My hands scrambled to take Stigma up again. John watched in abject terror as he came to recognize that his best attempt wasn't even close. I had survived what would have been a fatal blow for anybody else. I used Stigma to support myself as I got back to my feet. It was an appropriately undignified position for a spirit that had caused me so much trouble.
"You should have cut me in two while you had the chance, you stupid bastard."
I didn't know how he was going to react. Both of his arms had been dislocated from the force of each movement. He couldn't hope to kick me to death, presuming he had the will to fight through the pain coursing through his nervous system. He watched numbly as I approached from the front. I was silently hoping that he had one last trick up his sleeve.
He did not.
As I loomed over him and prepared to deal the finishing blow, he did nothing. He remained kneeling with his eyes downcast. John knelt before me, head hung low as if to present better access to his neck. My hesitation was not from a lack of killing intent. I could have been rid of him there and then, gotten revenge for everything he had done over the past few days. I felt a deep, boiling anger at his sudden surrender.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
His tired eyes turned up to face me again. His mouth opened, then closed again, then finally he managed to find the words; "What? What do you mean?"
"What the fuck are you doing? Kneeling here like this is an execution?"
John could not comprehend the question fully, or its meaning. What was he doing? He was doing as he had been taught, as he had always desired to do. To lead by a sterling example for every Inquisitor to follow. To never falter, to never surrender in the face of the darkness they opposed. John had resolved to regain his honour or die trying. Yet here he was at the mercy of his destined enemy – and he was not yet dead.
"The victory is yours," he coughed, "There is nothing left to be said."
I pulled the tip of Stigma's blade away from his head; "People like you piss me off the most. Not just because of the things you do, or what you represent, it's things like this. I gave you a chance to run. But you didn't take it. Why?"
"I will never flee. I cannot imagine a greater stain upon my honour."
"Honour isn't worth anything. I'm offering you your life."
John did not understand. Here I was, lecturing him instead of butchering him. What could have brought on such uncharacteristic behaviour? Was it a cruel joke at his expense?
"Do you understand me, John? I'm offering you something more valuable than honour, or bravery, or resolve. I'm offering you your fucking life. The most valuable thing in your possession."
John recalled Joseph's eagerness; "A life is to be used. Not thrown away recklessly, but used."
My voice climbed, "On what, nothing? What good would dying here do for anyone? I don't get people like you. Privileged arseholes who have the comfort of giving up something like this without question. Do you realise how hard the rest of us have to work to live? And you just want to throw it away like it's nothing. It's insulting."
John scowled. Hr had not thrown his life away as implied. He had done everything to the limit of his ability and fallen short. All of his strategy, planning and training had come to nothing. His actions had robbed promising men and women of their livelihoods and futures. To give his own life in a similar manner was the truest test of leadership. His eyes drifted to the unconscious Joseph.
Again, he repeated - why was I doing this? There was only one name on his mind.
"It really was Adelbern, wasn't it?"
There was no avoiding this now. John wasn't convinced by my amazing acting. I wiped away some of the blood from my mouth and nodded; "Alright, suppose it was this Adelbern bloke – what does that mean to you?"
"It means that he's… betrayed the cause, caucused with the enemy."
I laughed, "If it weren't for him, you'd be dead already. You don't realise how much the Absolver cares about you. Think about it. He's even willing to try and blackmail me to keep you alive."
"Why would you agree to that?" he growled.
I spoke but remained silent on the real reason, "Because you're a sorry sack of shit. If I kill you, you'll just get replaced by some other Inquisitor. I know for a fact that I can beat you in a fight. So, keeping you breathing doesn't mean anything to me. You can stab me, burn me, throw me off a cliff – but I'll keep ticking."
"You're… scum."
"If you have a falling out with the Absolver that's none of my business. But remember, you owe him a lot more than you think. You have two options. Run back home like a good boy and take it up with him, or I can kill you here and now to make it quick."
"You won't kill me if they're holding your leash. The Absolver wouldn't do something that stupid. He has something on you."
I perked up my ears and listened to the fight that continued to rage beyond the buildings that surrounded us. "You know, I had this whole thing planned out in my head. The exact way I was going to give you a window to skitter away like a rat. I didn't think that you'd be stupid enough to give up like this, but I guess a convenient plan like that was never going to work."
I knelt down and grabbed Ryan's sword from the dirt. John was unreadable. What was going on in his head at that moment? He'd just concluded, rightly or not, that the Absolver was pulling his strings the entire time, that he knew about me and what I was doing. For a man with a religious devotion to his mission and purpose, it must have been very troubling.
He shook his head, "No. It can't be that."
"Why not?"
"The Absolver would never willingly assist the likes of you. You're trying to split the Inquisition apart. Adelbern must be working on his own."
Ideology won the day. He'd convinced himself of the exact opposite. I picked some of the dirt from under my nails as he rationalised a new answer to the same question. This was what people like him did – even when the truth was spitting in his face.
"All you Inquisitors aren't as nice as you like to pretend, John. Not even the people in charge."
I couldn't hide the morose look on my face.
"Murder, rape, theft. You name it, and an Inquisitor has done it. High on authority and the belief that the people they harm 'deserve it.' You're nothing special, you're subject to all of the same biases and mistakes that other people are. Why is the Absolver different? Why can't he do something in his own interest? Something that goes against principles he might dishonestly spout to you."
"You don't know anything about him."
"No, I don't. That's why I can be sober about this. You, on the other hand, are far too invested. What I know is what I know. You can choose to conclude whatever you want."
An internal panic had started to spread. This was bad. Convincing John that the Absolver had nothing to do with it would keep my supply of cursed items flowing, but Adelbern was going to get burned. John wouldn't resist pointing the finger at someone he clearly felt an intense resentment towards. Adelbern was strange but he hadn't stabbed me in the back just yet. That was more than most of the Inquisitors could claim.
Keeping him alive was all the evidence he needed of that. As it turned out, Adelbern was thinking the exact same thing that I was. The white-haired bastard had been listening to the entire thing. Before I could react, he was diving in front of John and pointing his sword at me. In the moment I had to think fast. I hefted Stigma up into the air and brought it down in a slow arc, giving him plenty of time to dodge to the side and throw a kick at my injured abdomen. The painful grunt that came from my mouth was all too real as the stab wound was irritated by our theatrics.
At least he hadn't done it for real and given me another one to match.
"What are you doing here?" John barked.
Sowing doubt – that's what he was doing. Adelbern had been waiting in the wings for this moment to occur. He could swoop in and save the day, potentially putting John's suspicions to bed while he was at it. He held me at bay with his sword, "I already told you. The Absolver ordered me to bring you back home alive."
"You were the one who told him about this!"
"No – it was merely a miscalculation on your part. An experienced rogue like him isn't going to fall for a simple ambush."
John's brain was being scrambled by the pain and the confusion. He couldn't think straight. Nodding towards the unconscious Joseph, he spoke again; "Get Joseph, I can walk just fine!" Adelbern did as he was told and hustled over to the young knight, grabbing him and pulling him back up to his feet. It seemed to stir him from his blunt-force trauma for a spell, allowing them to walk back.
"He's more injured than he lets on."
"Then finish him!" John roared.
"I'm afraid that isn't what I'm here for. I can't fight him and protect you at the same time."
I glanced at the alley's exit and urged him to move faster. Any more than this and John would have questions about why I wasn't charging at them. John yelled and swore, trying to argue with Adelbern as he was dragged away by the scruff of his neck. I pretended to stagger after them - yelling my own share of expletives in return. Adelbern and his two piles of deadweight took a harsh left. That moved them away from the main fight happening at the crossroad on the right.
It would have been nice had Adelbern told me about his little scheme beforehand, but I couldn't argue with the results. Expecting things to go my way was optimistic. Rigging a real fight was a lot different to throwing a boxing match. John came into this expecting to die, now he had been rescued by the man he hated most. Adelbern had to hope it was enough to earn a little trust, and if not, he might be the one burying the guy six feet under.
With them all out of sight, I turned my attention to what was happening with the others. The last two officers were still putting up resistance, and Ryan had been forced to step back from the fighting. I jogged over and slid the sword over his shoulder.
"Holy shit! You scared the hell outta' me!"
"Here's your sword. Let's finish this up."
Ryan smiled, "Thank you very much. But I ain't done much training for fighting with one arm."
"I never would have guessed."