Doc and Lia waited for the approaching enemy atop the small, raised stone stage that the elementals had created. To the sides of the stage, the clans and tribes had amassed, and Sophia and Ayla were back in the tower that had been built. The tower had been reinforced three times to make it nearly impervious to being knocked down. They each had a rifle and were looking out through the viewing slits hidden among the decorative scrollwork. Rosa and Sequoia were sitting behind the stage, their hands joined as they waited for Doc’s command. The shamans and Fira, Citrine’s dryad, were also behind the stage, waiting to heal anyone who needed it.
The battalion marched in step, their boots thumping into the ground with finality. Ahead of them rode the inquisitors, with one in an ornate robe in the middle. Banners for Apoc’s templar order were carried at the back of the formation— they made an impressive sight as they came closer.
A half-mile away, the head inquisitor raised his hand, and the entire unit came to a stop. He rode forward another step before he spoke, his words carrying easily to the assembled crowd, “We have no desire to wipe your entire tribes and clans off the map today. Today, we are here only for the heretic, Doc Holyday. This man spreads falsehoods and lies that will tarnish even your non-existent souls. Stand down, step away, and you can live past this day. Fail, and you will find only death.”
Doc had picked up a gift just for this, and it seemed as though the inquisitor had magic or something like it. Triggering wind voice, Doc replied, “Inquisitor Nameless, you have made a grave mistake in coming. Luck has tasked me with bringing light back to the world, to save Mother from the Darkness choking her to death. I spoke with those you deem to have no value.” He motioned to his sides where the dwarves and elves were. “I never stood on a soapbox, preaching. I didn’t burn down churches or even tell your faithful they were wrong, yet here you are, trying to kill me?”
“Holyday. Good. We won’t have to chase you down. Know that Head Inquisitor Marcus Illumitas shall purge the corruption from your soul. Come peacefully and your pathetic followers can live. Or, resist if you want. I have with me the Righteous Fist Templar Order of Apoc’s Faithful. The entire order was brought to make an example of you.”
Doc smiled— having an enemy who wanted to make a grand statement made things so much easier. “Would you be willing to test your belief against mine, Illumitas? I’ll meet you halfway between our groups, unless you’re afraid of your faith not being equal to mine.”
“You would dare question my faith?!” The anger in Illumitas’ voice was palpable.
“Yes. Everyone’s faith should be questioned. Not because they are weak in belief, but because faith should be examined every day. Never questioning belief is unhealthy.”
Illumitas swung off his horse. He snapped his fingers, and one of the other inquisitors rode up to take the reins. With angry steps, he stalked forward, ready to tear this false demon lover apart.
Doc chuckled, saying after he’d dropped the gift, “Lia will tell you when, Rosa. I need to make a statement, and maybe— though I doubt it— the others will leave. If they don’t, I’ll use every gift I have to get to safety.”
“Luck watches over you,” Lia said softly. “We’ll be ready.”
Doc stepped off the stage, walking calmly forward. His duster flapped gently in the cold breeze of the day, his hat pulled snugly to his head. It struck him that he looked like an outlaw going to meet a monk. Both he and Illumitas wore black; Doc had a silver hat band on his hat while the head inquisitor’s robe had runes threaded into it.
The faithful behind Doc stirred. He’d made it known that he would try for a testing of faith, but it was clear that the moment was here, making some of the gathered uneasy. He heard snippets of prayers as he walked away from them and toward his duel with Illumitas.
As the two men got closer, Doc took in the furious-looking inquisitor. Ramrod-straight with a small flat-top, wide-brim hat, he reminded Doc of the Quakers. He was smooth-shaven as if hair was an affront to Apoc, looking like he’d shaved just that morning. The runes stitched into the robe made Doc’s head hurt, so he forced himself to look into Illumitas’ eyes.
Stopping ten feet away from each other, Doc felt a wave of unnatural cold— even colder than the worst of winter— sweep over him. Whispers, just out of hearing, began at the same time; begging, demanding, pleading, asking, the voices came in all kinds from men, women, and even children. He steadied his nerves as he triggered holy ground. The whispers stopped and the unnatural cold faded; Illumitas’ eyes widened slightly at the sensation of the consecration.
“So, you do have the ear of a false demon… I had thought perhaps the archbishop had lost his mind. The rumors seemed so far-fetched, and yet they are true. Your little display won’t hurt the templars. They are steeped in the holy words of Apoc; this patch of ground will not touch them. It feels like a small itch at the back of my mind, but it is easily ignored. If this was your hope, heretic, you should ask for mercy now.”
“This was just to stop your little trick. The voices that whisper to the unwary, sinking into the minds of those with no defenses, twisting them to believe in your false deity. Do you not realize that Apoc wants this world destroyed? Apoc wants everything dead, to leave behind a lifeless husk before it moves on to the next.”
Illumitas laughed, but there was an edge of madness to it. “What do I care about the world? I’m one of the true faithful. I will be taken from this place when it crumbles, taken to continue the work of Apoc on the next world he deems worthy of his righteousness. My brothers wouldn’t understand, but any who reach my station are brought into the truth. Head Inquisitors, Master Templars, and Archbishops are all brought in, as the Pontiffica has deemed us worthy of the truth, a truth that you don’t even know.”
Doc frowned. He hadn’t expected Illumitas to know about other worlds, nor to believe so strongly that the “true faithful” would be taken to the next one. It made him wonder about the bigger picture of the Darkness.
“You have no clue that your false demon is just using you,” Illumitas snickered. “They come to you in the guise of beauty and trick you into trying to fight the inevitable. You are wasting your life for no reason other than the enjoyment they get from watching failure.”
Doc felt it then, the slight vibration in Illumitas’ voice. It was hidden, but Doc felt the wrongness in it— it was trying to get him to agree with the inquisitor. The church had sent someone who would catch the unwary or anyone who doubted their goddess. Doc didn’t doubt Luck; his life since coming here was full of love and acceptance. Even with moments like this and worse waiting for him, he was grateful to her for the chance to experience the love he’d found.
Illumitas’ smile had been growing, but the moment Doc smiled back, the inquisitor’s smile became a snarl. His arm jerked up and a rod shot into his hand, almost as if he’d had a spring-loaded holster up his sleeve. The beam of black energy passed right through Doc— he’d already triggered missed me, and kept mentally triggering it.
The moment the beam passed through Doc, it flashed back to Illumitas with a silvered edge. The inquisitor screamed in pain when his ear was vaporized. As if that was the signal they’d been waiting for, the templars ran forward, their rifles coming up to fire at the massed groups near the stage. The inquisitors let them surge past before they kicked their horses to follow. The templars were there to guard them so they could reap the unworthy.
Doc’s allies sprang into action. They didn’t rush; instead, they dropped into ranks from prone to standing, then began to fire in sequence. The riflemen on the ground and those kneeling kept a steady barrage.
The second beam of darkness yet again passed through Doc, then four bullets in rapid succession. That forced Doc to use his immunity bubble instead, giving him ten seconds of immunity. The cavalcade of bullets and dark beams that zipped through him returned back to their owners, again with a silver edge to them.
The templars were safe for ten seconds as a dark shield appeared in front of them, catching everything sent their way while they continued to fire at Doc and the assembled crowd. Elves and dwarves cried out as they were shot before being dragged to the healers.
“Now!” Lia hissed, her guns in hand. She stepped backward off the stage, using the chest-high stage as a barrier to give her some cover.
Illumitas was in pain that he’d never imagined as the beams he fired were returned with divine energy. Though they tore chunks from his body, but he was blessed with dark gifts. He refused to die simply because he was missing pieces of his organs. He didn’t expect it when the ground around him and Doc suddenly dropped out from underneath them. He lost his grip on the rod just as Doc’s immunity bubble wore off.
Doc grimly pulled out his pistol, triggering missed me as he fired into the prone man’s head. He’d been expecting the drop, so he’d landed on a knee, stable and ready to fire. No one saw him kill the head inquisitor, which was what he wanted. The mystery would make it harder for his enemies to prepare for him later. The ground above him sealed except for the dozen air vents to give him breathable air. Looking at the thoroughly dead inquisitor’s mangled body, he waited for the battle to end.
Sequoia dropped Doc and Illumitas into the prepared space, then safely covered them. Rosa had a bigger job, and she did it at the same time. Large holes appeared in the ranks of the templars, spilling entire groups of them into each one before slamming shut like the maw of a hungry beast, the very earth killing them. As hundreds of them died, the shield protecting them fell. Bodies began to drop as bullets from the tribes and clans tore into them.
Ayla and Sophia felt sick, but it didn’t stop them as they calmly fired, reloaded, and fired again. With the two of them doing it, it was hard to say who killed the inquisitors, but between them, six riderless horses milled around uncertainly, as every one of the inquisitors had been sent to meet their god.
With their ranks thinned and their inquisitors dead, the templars were slowly cut down until none of them were left alive. The moment the firing stopped, Doc used his energy to raise himself from the ground. Opening a hole for himself, he left the lifeless remains of Illumitas behind to never be found.
As soon as he was visible again, a cheer went up from the uninjured tribes and clans. Luck’s name was chanted as weapons were raised overhead. Doc knew today would only bring more death— the church would never allow the loss of an entire templar order to go unanswered. He would be the biggest threat, and every resource they had would be focused on finding him. He prayed that not too many of those who’d sided with him had died.
With a heavy heart, he walked toward the cheering crowd. He’d do what he could for the injured, then preside over the funerals that were needed. But before next week, he’d be leaving for Tsarrus while two more of his wives went to join those already in Furden. I should be thankful that there’s enough civility that harming women and children is unconscionable here… that, and warfare is still lining up and marching at each other. I hope the church never grows out of that, Doc thought. He looked toward the tower, seeing Ayla and Sophia holding each other, then at where Lia and Rosa were on the stage again, helping guide people in what they should do.
“War… it’ll come for me, but I can delay it long enough for David and Nickla to get a stranglehold on technology. Then, even if I fall, the church can never win.” Doc whispered as he walked slowly back to the town. He felt a moment of searing pain, then nothing. The world fell away in blood and pain before darkness swallowed him.