59: Throwing Punches and Pulling Punches
Liam could only watch with a sense of sadness mixed with satisfaction as Alistair ripped through ranks of Inquisitors all around them.
"You look like you're almost sad about this," Albert said, jumping up on his shoulder. “You know they would kill you if they had half a chance, right? Less than half a chance, really.”
"I can be sad about people being hurt while also recognizing the necessity of it," Liam said, feeling irritated that he was still having to make this point after he'd already made it several times. Though he hadn’t rammed the cat’s face into thick metal bars a few times, so maybe the lesson hadn’t taken.
"I suppose I can understand that point of view," Albert said.
"Why do I feel like there's more to it?" Liam asked.
"I don't agree with that point of view, but I understand it."
"What would you do if you were the one handling this?” Liam asked.
"I would do so much damage to them that they would never dare to attack me again," Albert said.
“Right. Instead they had your closest and most trusted associate stab you in the back when you least expected it."
"I'll admit there are some flaws in the plan of relying solely on reputational intimidation,” Albert said.
“Let me ask you this," Liam said, as Alistair let out a bellowing roar while an Inquisitor blasted him in the face with a fireball. The fireball dissipated and Alistair was still staring down, though he looked a touch singed. Then he reached a paw out and cleanly sliced the Inquisitor through the gut, causing him to go to the ground.
"What question is that?" Albert asked.
"How am I supposed to intimidate these Inquisitors if none of them survive to tell the tale?”
"Well, a group of Inquisitors not surviving to come back to their home base is a message all on its own," Albert said. "But I see your point."
Liam sighed. "I don't suppose there's some magical spell I could use to make all of this stop?"
"There are a variety of spells you could use to stop all of this," Albert said.
"And let me guess. I can’t use them?” Liam asked.
"I'm afraid that all those spells are the kind of thing you would have to spend a great deal of time practicing. Using that spell that cut people off from their cores was already ridiculously advanced and the kind of thing that took hours of practicing over and over with the greatest sorcerer the two worlds have ever known showing you the way, and even then, you wouldn't have gotten it if you don't seem to be so good at being able to put together runes."
"I see," Liam said.
"I'm sorry," Albert said.
"Are you?" Liam asked.
"I know this sort of thing pains you. I might not understand it, but I am sorry."
"I suppose I can accept that," Liam said.
He turned his attention back to the fight happening in front of them. The Inquisitors finally seemed to realize they were overmatched. Meanwhile, Alistair was turning and bellowing at them. Though as he turned and bellowed, Liam realized something.
"What is he doing?" Ana asked, coming to stand next to Liam.
He reached a hand out without thinking about what he was doing. He wrapped it around Ana’s, and for a wonder, she took his hand and she gave it a squeeze. He turned to look at her and she smiled up at him.
"If I didn't know any better," Albert said. "I would almost say that the garzeth is trying to terrify the Inquisitors into running without hurting them any more than he has to."
"You're turning into a bad influence on him," Ana said.
"What makes you think this is my influence?" Liam asked.
"He's a garzeth. They're one of the most bloodthirsty demonic creatures in the demon kingdoms once the bloodlust takes them."
"Alistair doesn't strike me as the kind who has the bloodlust taking him very often," Liam said.
"Are you forgetting the entire merry chase he ran us on through the woods when we first met him?" she asked.
"Well, aside from that," Liam said.
Alistair let out another bellow as multiple Inquisitors went running. Several of them tried to get on their horses, but the horses were whinnying and rearing up, trying to break free from where they'd been tied down. Their eyes rolled into the backs of their heads as they let out terrified screams.
One Inquisitor managed to get on top of a horse that wasn't quite as terrified as the others, at least not outwardly. Though the moment the Inquisitor got on top and the tie holding it in place went loose with some magical incantation or another, the horse reared back and threw the Inquisitor to the ground where he landed with a loud thump.
Liam winced. He'd seen the aftermath of somebody falling from a horse before, and it was never pretty. It didn't help that the horse then turned around and trampled over that Inquisitor as it made its way as far from the rampaging garzeth as it could get as quickly as possible.
"That's going to leave a mark," Albert said.
Most of the Inquisitors seemed to be on the run now rather than waiting around to face a raging garzeth. Though there was one more who went up to confront Alistair directly. Liam didn't recognize this one, so it wasn't one of the two who'd been sent to guard him the night before. He spared a thought for the one who was still lying unconscious over by the coach, but not much of a thought.
That one would be very confused when he woke up the next morning. That was for sure.
“It really is impressive the way he's doing that,” Albert said.
“Impressive?” Liam said. “He's attacking them.”
“Yes, but he's managing to get most of them to run away, though it takes a special kind of madness to attack a garzeth in the first place.”
Just how mad the Inquisitor was became very clear as Alistair leaned down right in his face and let out a snort that blew the man’s hair back. The Inquisitor stared up at the garzeth for a long moment, then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he crumpled to the ground.
The fight was finally starting to settle down. The only Inquisitors who were still around were the ones Liam had put to sleep earlier around the other campfire. The campfire they were closest to was still raging, and it seemed to flare up for a moment as Alistair brought himself up on his hind legs, held his four paws out with claws gleaming in the light, and let out a final bellowing roar so powerful that the very grass itself in the clearing, and then the trees beyond, seemed to move under the power of his bellow.
“That's impressive,” Liam said.
“We only saw a fraction of what a garzeth is capable of,” Ana said. “Particularly one that’s reached the Second Ascension.”
Liam thought about that, and then he tried to reach out with his mind and feel at the garzeth. He wondered if he could feel the core that had to be in there somewhere.
It was more like there was magic suffusing every part of the garzeth rather than a magic core glowing brightly at Alistair’s center.
Then he was pulling back and there were no more Inquisitors all around. Alistair moved down to all six paws and walked over to them. The pen hovering over his magical notebook was still moving.
“Hello, Liam,” Alistair said. “I’m sorry I waited until this moment to join in, but it seemed like you had everything well in hand up to this moment.”
“Including the whole day where we were both trapped in cages?” Liam asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Yes, well,” Alistair said, “I’ve been shadowing your convoy with these pesky annoying humans. I took out three of them in the woods near your cottage, but I'm afraid they proved to be a little more difficult to deal with than I originally thought. And so I figured it would be best to wait until a moment when it seemed clear you needed my assistance rather than going in and getting myself killed.”
“It's okay,” Liam said, chuckling and shaking his head. “I totally understand you not jumping in and going down in a blaze of glory.”
“Thank you for your understanding, Liam,” Alistair said.
“That was pretty impressive what you did just now,” Liam said, looking all around. He winced as he saw the remains of some of the Inquisitors, but again, they'd made their choice to take him captive. He figured it was their fault this happened, not his. He had tried to warn them, after all.
He looked to Ana and then back to Alistair, and finally he looked down at Albert.
“So I don't know about the two of you, but I think it would be a good idea for us to get out of here while we still can.”
“I think that would be a very good idea,” Alistair said.
Liam turned to Ana.
“I’m not going to disagree with you,” she said with a shrug and then she held up a hand that made it clear her claws were out. “Now, do I get to have a little bit of fun with these bastards? Maybe teach them the error of trying to keep a High Princess of the Demon Realms captive?”
“We're not going to kill any of them while they're down,” Liam said.
“Are you sure?” she asked, her lip jutting out in a pout that was terribly cute.
Liam took a deep breath. He wasn't going to let her commit cold-blooded murder just because she was looking at him with those pretty glowing yellow eyes and jutting her lip out in a pout that worked a magic on him that was totally unrelated to the arcane or infernal mana that was flowing through his body.
The temptation was certainly there, even though he didn't give into it.
"No, you can't kill them while they're defenseless," he said.
"They would do the same to us," she said.
"Maybe so," Liam said with a shrug. "But we aren't going to kill them in cold blood."
"You're no fun," she said.
"Anyway," Liam said, looking to Alistair and then down to Albert. "Is there anything else we need to do here, or do you think we have everything well in hand?"
"You're asking me, Liam?" Alistair asked, sounding very surprised.
"I mean, I figure you might know something," Liam said. "You're always scribbling in that notebook. You might know a thing or two."
"Why, thank you, Liam," Alistair said. "But as much as I would enjoy to stick around here and learn more about these men, something tells me we need to get a move on."
"The Inquisition is very rarely far from reinforcements," Albert said. "It will take them the time it takes to make the journey from Rivenwood, but they will be out here as soon as they possibly can. Not to mention the rest of the Inquisitors are going to wake up by the morning at the latest, and it would be best not to be around when that happens if you insist on letting them live."
Albert said that last bit like an accusation. Like he thought Liam was making a mistake by not killing them when he had the chance.
"Okay," Liam said with a sigh. "Then I suppose we head out."
"And how do you propose we travel?" Albert asked, looking around.
Liam looked around as well. There were a few horses at the other side of the other campfire who looked nervous, but they didn't seem to be completely terrified. Then he looked back at Alistair.
"I don't suppose it would be a good idea to try and ride horses when there's a garzeth in the area," he said.
"Not a good idea at all," Ana said.
Alistair cleared his throat, and he seemed almost embarrassed. "If I might make a suggestion? Though you have to promise never to breathe a word of this to anyone."