56: Lessons in Intimidation
Albert looked down from Liam's shoulder as they reached the next group all around the fire. This one was farther from Ana's cage.
"That's odd," Liam muttered.
"What's that?" Albert asked, looking up at him in the darkness. A faint glow came off those markings that looked almost like runes on his coat.
"I would’ve thought the High Inquisitor would’ve been at the camp closer to the demon," Liam said with a shrug. "Seems like he’d want to be closer to the enemy."
"No, not really," Albert said. "These bastards look down on all demons and anything that comes from demon lands. He’d want to be as far from her as possible because of some idea that she’s tainted and that taint might rub off on him.”
"It's weird," Liam muttered. "Ana doesn't seem all that bad. She seems just like a regular person."
Albert stared up at him, blinking a couple of times.
"Okay, so maybe she's not like a regular person, but she's just a normal person. Even if she's a little full of herself. And maybe a little quick to using murder as a solution.”
“I find that last bit admirable, to be honest,” Albert said.
"I can hear you," Ana called out from her spot by the cage.
"Yes, well, keep in mind that the Inquisition was created as an offshoot of the Royal Church as a method of rooting out demonic influences back when that was an actual problem. There were infiltrators in human society for years before open hostilities actually started."
"I suppose," Liam said. "All that was before I was born."
"And that's one of the wonderful things about the world," Albert said. "Eventually, all the people who are used to the old ways of the world die off, and people who are used to the new ways of the world can hang around long enough for those new ways to become the old ways their children start to question."
"I see," Liam said.
"You don't see, but if you live long enough to have children, then you might understand someday," Albert said. “I’m not going to smack you for that one as it’s something everyone has to learn the hard way when they get old enough to have to deal with young upstarts.”
"Did you have children?" Liam asked.
"I told you not to ask me questions where you're not going to get an answer," Albert said.
"But I can't tell if I'm asking a question where I'm not going to get an answer until I ask that question and you tell me I'm not going to get an answer," Liam said.
Again, the cat paused and stared at him. Again, he blinked a couple of times, his tail twitching in obvious irritation. Liam waited for the paw to land, but it didn’t.
"That brain of yours is a real pain in the ass. You know that, right?"
Liam shrugged. "I've never heard that one before."
"Probably because nobody in the country squire’s estate was capable of realizing what trouble that could be."
"Is that a problem for you?" Liam asked.
"Oh no," Albert said. "I'm quite pleased. It means I picked well, even if it can be annoying in the short term."
"Okay," Liam said. "So can we look around and find this High Inquisitor? I'd like to get that key and get out of here as soon as possible."
"Certainly," Albert said. "You'll want to find the guy who’s looking down his nose at you, even though he's probably crawling on the ground in utter pain from the spell you just used on him."
"Will he have fancy robes or something like that?" Liam asked. “I think I saw him earlier, maybe, but I was so busy getting punched that it’s all a blur.”
"Most likely," Albert said. “He was out there, but you were occupied getting punched in the gut. Maybe try to avoid that next time. The fight will go better for you.”
“Thanks for that timely advice on winning a fight,” Liam said. “I’ll start taking care of some of these others while you go and find him since you seem to know what you’re looking for.”
“Excuse me?” Albert said. “I’m not your errand boy.”
“You’re my familiar. That means you’re supposed to help me,” Liam said.
“I’m to instruct you and assist you through life. That doesn’t mean I go off to do every task you ask of me. Right now I’m advising you to leave this one awake for a moment.”
Liam paused, turning to stare at him. He stood over one of the Inquisitors. The man was doubled over in pain, holding his gut, and tears were streaming down his cheeks. Liam could see that much in the flickering light of the fire.
"I can't feel it," the man keened over and over. "Oh gods, why have you forsaken me? Why can't I feel it?"
"What’s he even talking about?" Liam muttered. "And why do you want me to leave them awake? Seems like they might enjoy it if they took a little nap."
"Because you're going to have a conversation." When he spoke again, it was in a low voice. Like he didn't want to be overheard. “This is one of those lessons I need to teach you."
"About magic?” Liam asked. “We don’t have time for another spell.”
“You’re not having a conversation with me,” Albert said. “You’re having a conversation with the High Inquisitor, and you need witnesses. I’m teaching you something about the way the world works, and how you're going to have to move through it."
"Okay," Liam said. “Teach me, o wise one.”
“I could do without the sarcasm, but I will,” Albert said, his tail lashing. “Look at these Inquisitors. Look at those robes they wear. Do you think that kind of thing is at all practical for going on a trip through a thick, wooded area to a rural forest estate next to a vast partially demon-infested forest next to the new line of demarcation between human and demon lands? Do you think that’s at all practical for hunting down demons in that forest?”
"I was actually just thinking about how utterly not practical they look for that sort of thing,” Liam said.
"Precisely," Albert said. "And did you ever stop to wonder why they do that?"
"Because it looks impressive," Liam said.
"Also precisely," Albert said, sounding pleased, even though he was still whispering so they wouldn't overhear him. "And now you're going to have to learn how to do that sort of thing as well. In my short time with you, it doesn't seem like you have a devious bone in your body, but I can assure you that this is the sort of thing that is going to help you in the long run.”
“I swear, if you tell me I need to interrogate and kill all of them, I'm going to grab you by the scruff of your neck and hold you over the fire and see if you can survive that sort of thing.”
"I can," Albert said, "But it wouldn't be pleasant, and I really wish you would take some of that bloodthirsty energy and turn it towards your enemies rather than someone who is trying to help you.”
"Keep talking," Liam said.
"You need to learn to build a reputation for yourself. You and I both know you're a complete softie pushover who doesn't want to do anything to hurt these bastards even though they deserve it."
"Not wanting to hurt someone doesn't make me soft," Liam said. “It means I don’t want to hurt someone unless it’s necessary.”
"We could quibble on that, but I don't have the time," Albert said. "What I'm trying to get at here is if you cultivate a reputation for yourself then you won't have to hurt even more people because they'll be too afraid to confront you in the first place. There’s something to be said for having a reputation that makes people think twice before they even try to come at you.”
Liam frowned. What the cat was saying did make a sort of sense. Like he knew there were servants who wouldn't dare to cross Baron Riven in the manor house.
Supposedly things were a little looser at the manor house since they were off at the edges of humanity compared to how households were run in some of the cities. The servants got away with more than they would if they were working for a noble in one of those cities or larger towns.
But at the same time, Baron Riven made clear lines, and he made it doubly clear he wasn't afraid to deal swift punishment to somebody who was deserving of it. Which made people less likely to do the sort of thing that would result in the baron having to punish them in the first place.
"So what am I doing here?" Liam asked.
"What you do here is you find the High Inquisitor, and you make it clear he isn't the one with the power here."
"I'm not going to harm him if I can avoid it," Liam said.
"That's the thing," Albert said. "You don't have to harm him physically. All you have to do is harm his reputation. I've been listening in on these bastards with this new hearing that I have. It turns out it's frightfully useful to have cat ears. I'm suddenly starting to understand why people talked about cats being able to hear things from so far away, or finding rodents in the walls when they had no way to actually see them."
"Is there a point to all this?" Liam said.
"The point is this High Inquisitor is going to be the kind of person who’s so convinced of his own rightness in the world that anyone who challenges that is also going to shake the very foundations of his authority."
"And I'm going to do that," Liam said.
"Yes.”
“How?”
“By making it clear you’re the one in control here. That's all. You don't have to do anything that would actually harm him. You have to harm his opinion of himself and his standing with his subordinates.”
"Okay," Liam said.
Though he wasn't so sure about all that. It seemed needlessly complicated, but if Albert wanted him to keep some of these Inquisitors awake while he had a chat with the High Inquisitor, then he could do that. It certainly didn't look like any of them were in any position to harm him, for now, and he also had that faint feeling of their arcane cores wrapped in the spell he'd cast. So he figured he’d have some warning if they started to break free to the point they could be a danger.
Maybe.
Albert leapt down and darted in between the Inquisitors. Liam held his tongue about the cat suddenly deciding to help out after all that complaining. That seemed like a good way to have him stop helping, and Liam didn’t really mind if the cat changed his mind as long as he was helping.
"This is the one over here," Albert said.
Liam walked over. The Inquisitor Albert was talking about didn't look all that different at first glance, but as he looked a little closer he could see light reflecting off of lines of gold thread around his cuffs and up by his neck. Gold thread that seemed to glow.
His robes were also a deep purple that looked almost black in the firelight, but he could see the purple color in the glow from the gold lines.
Then Liam looked up at his eyes, and he could immediately tell what Albert had been talking about when he said to look for the person who was looking down his nose at Liam even though he was no longer the one in control of the situation.
He knew this man. He was the one Liam had seen outside his cottage. The one directing the other Inquisitors when that armored one socked him in the gut.
He wondered where that armored one had got to. He wouldn’t mind a round two with him now that he knew a little more about spellwork. He could only hope he’d taken him out with the dampening spell before he had a chance to get into his armor.
The High Inquisitor lacked a beard. That struck him as an oddity considering most of the rest of the Inquisitors were wearing one. He wondered if that was a requirement for them and something that this one didn't bother with because he was a higher rank and that was a way to show off, or if it was something that was a tradition and again, he didn't bother with it because he thought he was a high enough rank that he didn't have to.
Or maybe he simply couldn’t grow a beard, and he was compensating for it by rising through the ranks so he could look down his nose at everyone who could. Liam had seen the same thing happen with the petty politics amongst the servants at the estate.
The High Inquisitor was staring up at Liam with something that looked almost like pure hate.
He seemed to be getting that from all sides lately. Except from Alistair. He wondered where the garzeth had disappeared to. With any luck, he'd made his way back into the Felwood and was living his best life out there not worrying about Inquisitors or infamous sorcerers turned cats or High Princesses of the Demon Realms.
Though he couldn't imagine any of the Inquisitors trying to hurt Alistair in the first place. It seemed like the kind of thing that would be a very bad idea.
Liam wished the garzeth well, wherever he was, though he was also surprised at how sad he was at the idea that the monster might not be following them around any longer.
But he had bigger problems to deal with now. He squatted in front of the Inquisitor and stared down at him for a long moment. Meanwhile, the Inquisitor stared up at him, still glaring with a hate that almost made his eyes glow like Ana's.
"Could you please hurry up?” Ana said.
"Oh, I'm hurrying as fast as I can,” Liam said, unable to keep the grin out of his voice or the smile off his face.
"What are you laughing about, demon lover?" the High Inquisitor spat.
Liam turned back to him. He was a touch surprised. He could feel that this one had the mixture of infernal and arcane mana he'd somehow managed to cobble together wrapped around his core the same as all the others, but he was able to actually form a coherent thought rather than crying uncontrollably.
He focused on the High Inquisitor in front of him. This time when he smiled, it had everything to do with trying to be pleasant and not because he was deliberately giving Ana a hard time. Not that he thought it would be a good idea to have Ana over here while he was questioning this man.
"Hi, I'm Liam," he said, holding a hand out to the Inquisitor. "I was hoping I could get the key to that cage over there from you, or if you don't have it, could you tell me which of these gentlemen is holding it?"
The High Inquisitor blinked in obvious surprise. He clearly hadn't been expecting that.