Fire of the Inquisitor

One thing Lucia knew from living so close to a jungle was that no matter how much you think you’ve cleared them, they always fight back against what you’ve built. It was no different with Silence’s palace, the muted colors of the pyramid’s stones were being assaulted by the branches and fungi of the nearby jungle. It didn’t take Lucia long to find a place where the dark forest had penetrated the palace completely. It took longer for the young woman to squeeze through the small opening, she hoped she wasn’t going to be forced to make a fast exit through the same opening.

The air inside the palace had frozen over since Lucia had left it not so long ago. She watched her breath in front of her turn into clouds of white mist. The strange machine hanging in the middle of the room was still there, and judging from the moans and groans coming from it so was Sable. Lucia instinctively felt for the small vial in the pouch on her belt, not holding the Carrion thistle anymore, she had left that in the jungle with her pack and the letter to her mother, instead, it carried the fire wash, the fuel that the legion’s archers had used for their fire arrows. Lucia had no arrows, so she was going to have to make due with an improvised weapon and she had an idea where to start.

Lucia spotted the target of her experiment not too far below the platform she was standing on and started to make her way in its direction as quietly as possible. The last thing she wanted was to face the little witch girl without a suitable weapon.

“Silly girl, I told you to leave,” Silence voice said from behind her.

Lucia spun on her heel and withdrew her sword, slicing through what looked like a green tentacle. Silence screamed and somewhere above them, Sable moaned loudly. The soldier was about to charge her attacker but was taken back by her new appearance. The monster in front of her was no taller than silence had been, but its skin was dark green, its fangs extended past a lower lip painted in violet, and its limbs were replaced by so many tentacles.

“What does Sable think of your true face?” Lucia said.

Silence giggled, not as pleasant as she did when she looked human. “He is totally devoted to me.”

Lucia looked up toward the machine that held Sable, the green mist encircled it and the chains that were hooked to were frozen in ice. “What are you doing to him?”

Silence followed the soldier’s eyes upward. “I’m making him more like me, replacing his former lady’s bothersome light with the more natural coldness of this world.”

“Sounds to me like you’re torturing him,” Lucia said, as Sable let out another pained shout. “Sounds to me like you’re killing him.”

Silence shrugged. “It’s true that this process doesn’t have a very high success rate, most of my human test subjects did not survive very long, but I have faith in my Sable.”

“You’re a monster.” Lucia brought her sword up. “I’m getting him out of here.”

Silence smiled, exposing more of her sharp teeth. “Do you really think you stand of chance against me, little girl”

The creature that Silence had become lashed out at her with its many tentacles. Lucia slashed at the with her sword, cutting them clean off, but it never seemed to diminish the number of appendages that came at here. Afraid that she would become exhausted and cut down within minutes, Lucia dashed for the side of the platform and jumped off, landing a winding staircase a few stories down. The soldier started to make her way down but was stopped in her tracks by the sight of Silence floating in the air toward her.

“Silly girl,” she laughed, “Sable is in the opposite direction.”

Lucia was forced to slice through another barrage of attacks before she was able to leap over the staircase railing. This leap did not go as well as the last one, as she bounced off the lower railing of the staircase and came crashing down hard on a nearby platform. At least she was only one floor away from where she wanted to be.

“For someone who is attempting a rescue, you sure are doing a lot of running away.” Silence floated toward her again.

Lucia braced for another attack that came swiftly, but this time, the little witch tried something. For every attack that was directed toward Lucia’s head, there was another one aimed at her feet. The soldier knew what she was trying to do, but even knowing was not enough to stop it. Soon she felt two tentacles wrap around her ankles and pull her to the ground. Lucia grunted as she fell to the ground and panicked as she was pulled toward her attacker.

“Don’t worry,” Silence hissed, “I’ve actually grown quite fond of you, I’ll keep you alive as a test subject.”

Lucia turned her head and spotted the large tower cabinets so painfully close. Lucia knew that if she had any chance of surviving this fight she was going to have to change her strategy. She reached for the vial in her pouch and swung her sword toward the tentacles holding her feet. Silence screamed as Lucia freed herself, knowing that she wouldn’t have much time before being captured again. The young woman tossed the vial as hard as he could in the direction of the large wooden structure, praying that she had used enough force to break the glass of vial and ignite the fluid inside.

“What was that?” Silence asked. Lucia felt her arms and legs bound by the girl’s tentacles, but her attention was elsewhere. Heartbroken, she watched as nothing seemed to happen. Again, Lucia felt herself being pulled toward her attacker. “Whatever it was it didn’t seem to work.”

Suddenly, a bright flash filled the palace, followed by a loud boom. The fire wash worked even better than Lucia could’ve hoped for. The element of fire had reacted violently with the chemicals, potions, and the concoction that the witch had stored in the tower. Flames of every color spread over the entire building, setting the wooden stairs and platforms ablaze and filling the air with a thick black smog. More importantly that initial blast had sent thousands of splinters everywhere, including a large chunk in the chest of Silence.

“What have you done?” Silence cried.

Lucia felt the tentacles around her body start to loosen. Lucia stood up and retrieved her sword, walking toward Silence with the intent of ending her, but the face she saw was the girl she and Sable had traveled with her. Lucia met her sad eyes, unable to get herself to kill something that looked like a human child. Instead, she struck the girl across the face like a harsher parent than even her father was. Then she turned and started for where Sable was now trapped.

Silence screamed behind her, “I am the Palm of Silence, I bring the only peace humans will ever know,” her voice turned dark and inhuman, “Death.”

Lucia looked back and watched as the part of the platform with Silence on it burst into a large flame and crash to the ground. It was enough to instill a sense of urgency in the young soldier to rush her ascent to where Sable awaited. Dashing up staircases as and platforms as they buckled under her and crumbled to pieces. By the time she made it to Sable her clothes were covered in ash and her lungs filled with smoke.

“I’ve failed my lady,” Sable voice sounded drained and weak.

Silence started to tear the inquisitor away from the machine. “She wasn’t your lady Sable, you still have to complete your mission.”

Lucia removed the last restraint and Sable to weak to stand on his own fell into her. The young woman felt his hands travel from her arms to her neck, squeezing just enough to make it hard to breathe.

“I will avenge my lady,” he growled.

Lucia slapped the skull he wore over his head. “Snap out of it Sable, your queen is waiting for you.” She slapped his head again.

“My queen?” he said.

“She’s waiting for you,” She placed her hand over his heart, “you love her don’t you?”

Sable removed his hand from her throat. “Lucia?”

“We have to leave this place.” She was relieved that Sable seemed to have shaken whatever Silence had done to him, but the crashing structure nearby sent danger told her legs to run. “We need to get out now.”

Sable nodded and Lucia wrapped his arm around her shoulders to help him move, but to where she did not now. There was very little left of the platform they were standing on and no opening to the outside she could see through the black smoke trying to suffocate them.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Lucia wheezed.

Sable was silent.