Curselock

Chapter 59: New Lives [END OF BOOK 1]

“Thank you for sitting down with us, Royal Inquisitor. My name is Inquisitor Levi and this is Inquisitor Cassia, Legacy of the Wolf and Legacy of the Wand respectively.”

“Call me Isobel,” the Huntress said. “Legacy of the Hunt.”

“Thank you,” Cassia said, flipping a pad of paper before her. She dipped a quill and asked, “Been in Shoutwell long?”

“A few weeks.”

“Every been in Shoutwell before?”

“Once, ten or twenty years ago.”

The two Inquisitors shared a look. Levi took the next question. “Might we inquire why you were already in Shoutwell before their plea for help was issued?”

Isobel shrugged. “Following some suspicious characters from Liontrunk.”

“Liontrunk?” Cassia asked. “The savanna town with all those lions?”

“Who were these suspicious characters?”

“Just some kids in the wrong place at the right time.” Isobel said.

Levi wrote something down. “And where are these ‘kids’ now?”

“On a ship. They left Shoutwell the moment they could.”

Levi took a long sniff. He frowned, a Legacy ability playing at his senses. “Right…” he said, scratching something out in his notes.”

Cassia gave him a look then returned her focus to the Huntress. “So you defeated a Monarch Avatar? The Sightless King, I’d assume from the initial report.”

“Indeed. Freshly born might I add. Wasn’t much of a fight. Finding it was the issue.”

Nodding along, Cassia flipped back a few pages. “I have here that the Sightless Cult had been in the city for about a week and a half before being dispatched. Care to fill us in on what happened?”

Isobel took a long breath. “I got a notice from dispatch to investigate the city as I was closest. I assume you two got the same alert.”

They nodded.

“From there I did as I’ve always done and searched for information. I was led to a bar where I was then given information about a smuggler. That smuggler was a dead end but in all the action I met the local noble House’s butler.”

“The butler?” Levi asked, sniffing again. He frowned deeper.

“Older gentleman, yes. Quite proficient in fighting and the like. He brought me to Lady Onryo, and we discussed possible routes of success. However, during that meeting, her House was attacked. I was able to fight off the cultist invasion, but the battle rattled the dainty noble and her children. They soon relocated outside of the city. Soon after, the Sightless King made his—”

Cassia raised a hand. “Now hold on just a moment. We have reports of many Witches taking to the street and cutting down any cultist they could find.”

Isobel didn’t hesitate. “That is correct, yes. Some even went after me, and I dispatched them after their initial attack.”

Levi rapped his knuckles on the table. “That’s it?”

The Huntress shrugged.

“Where did these Witches come from? Where did they go? We have reports of dozens of combatants hunting the cultists, not only Witches.”

“Yeah, I wondered about that myself actually. Too bad I didn’t have the time to investigate since I was fighting a Monarch.” She ended the sentence with a heavy tone, one begging the others to challenge her.

They didn’t.

“Monarch Avatar,” Cassia said, crossing a note out.

“What’s that?” Isobel asked.

“You said Monarch, not Monarch Avatar. Big difference between the two. One that I’m sure even the esteemed Huntress might have had an issue with.”

The two women stared at each other for a long moment. Levi coughed and said, “Give us the details about the battle.”

“Not much to say. I overpowered it and the Lector that built it died in the fallout.”

“It?Not him?”

Isobel shrugged. “Monsters are monsters.”

Cassia glared. “And what have you been doing since the battle?”

“Not much. Waiting for you two, I suppose.”

The two Inquisitors looked at each other before Levi said, “Your reputation as a Royal Inquisitor proceeds you, Huntress. Not many could have killed a Monarch Avatar single handedly.”

Scratching the back of her neck, Isobel frowned at that. “I can think of quite a few.”

“Regardless, your help was critical for the survival of this city. Thank you for your time, you are dismissed Royal Inquisitor.”

Isobel stood at the announcement, shook both Inquisitors’ hands, and stepped out.

Before she was fully out of the door frame, Inquisitor Cassia spoke up one last time. “I don’t know who you are hiding, but this does not look good for you.”

Walking away from the conference room, the Huntress scoffed before nodding to an older butler waiting for his own interview. Once outside, she quickly made haste to the harbor and bought a ticket for the evening departure heading north. She cursed at the price of the ticket.

All in the name of intrigue, she thought.

Back with the Inquisitors, Boor sat down.

“Thank you for meeting with us, Mister?”

“Boor.”

Cassia squinted. “Right, Mister Boor. My name is Inquisitor Cassia and this is Inquisitor Levi. Legacy of the Wand and Legacy of the Wolf respectively.”

Boor just waited.

“Right,” Levi said, scribbling something down. “Can you give a recount of your role with the Royal Inquisitor commonly known as the Huntress?”

“I provided her a meeting with my Lady.”

“That being Medevia Onryo?”

“Correct.”

“And what was her role with the Huntress?”

Boor shrugged. “Not much. Only that she provided general information about the city. She didn’t wish to stay in the city very long. We were attacked you see…”

Cassia wrote something down. “Right. Well, how did you and the Huntress meet?”

“Through a smuggler.”

“You know a lot of smugglers?”

Boor took a long pause. “Yes.”

“And these smugglers, what do they smuggle?” Levi asked.

“Odds and ends. I’m not fully sure. Most don’t speak of their jobs.”

“And does Lady Onryo know of this?”

“Yes, that is one reason her grandfather hired me.”

“Because you know smugglers?”

“Because I used to be the leader of the smugglers,” Boor stated frankly.

The Inquisitors straightened a bit. “What?” one of them asked.

“This city is home to two cities, one above ground, the other below. The one below just so happens to be a Smugglers Guild.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Levi pleaded. “Why are you telling us this? You are offering up a lot of information we didn’t ask for.”

Boor nodded. “I think it's time the Witches below us finally get what’s coming to them.”

“Why now?”

Again Boor shrugged. “I once thought the Guild was worth keeping around. Thriving business and the like. We lived by a code in what we’d smuggle in. Body parts for a cult was not a part of the code, you see…”

“So the Smuggler’s Guild brought the Sightless Cult to Shoutwell?” Cassia asked.

“Inadvertently, I would assume. But yes.”

“Do you have a name? The smuggler, I mean.”

“No, and I don’t think that matters much. They would have long disappeared,” Boor said. “What matters now is making sure this never happens again.”

Levi leaned back. “Quite a big undertaking. One that might hurt the city. You know that, right?”

“Yes. But I believe Lady Onryo can hold everything together. I trust her vision for the future.”

“And what vision is that?”

“A city government that will never abandon its people,” Boor said firmly.

The Inquisitors shared a look. “A few years ago, a Royal Inquisitor was killed in this city. Does this underground smuggling city have anything to do with that?”

“Not that I’m aware of. That was the Icewillows, and the last remaining member was killed in Liontrunk recently.”

“Liontrunk,” Cassia echoed, sharing a look with her partner. “Do you know how this Icewillow was killed?”

Boor hesitated. “As I understand it, some passing adventurers killed him.”

Levi sniffed, hard.

Cassia wrote something, circling it. “I see. Any suggestions on where we should start investigating this ‘Smugglers Guild?’”

“With one of the leaders, Simon. Be careful though. As I understand it, he rules with the threat of a plague.”

“A plague?” Levi repeated.

“Indeed. A chemical genius, Simon.”

“You seem to know a lot about this man.”

Boor nodded. “He’s killed a lot of people I cared about.”

“A Witch then?”

Again, the butler nodded.

“You’ll help us take him down?” Levi asked.

“Yes, as will House Onryo.”