Chapter 69: The Bishop
“That door’s not for knocking, you fools. Enter! Enter right this instant for Blessed Father’s sake, and close the damn thing after you!” Bishop Cornelius boomed from beyond the door the second Edric made the grave sin of disturbing the man’s peace.
He’s not in a good mood. He’s never in a good mood.
Edric took a deep breath as he clasped the knob of the door and heard the groaning of heavy stone like the distant wailing of Hollows stabbing at his ears. A single push, then it would swing wide open, revealing the monster hiding inside. The inner flame stirred ever so slightly in his chest, but even that fire was quenched before it could spread a much-needed calm across his thoughts.
His golden plates felt weightless for a second—the shoulder plates and the chest piece, the leggings and the boots, the helmet tucked neatly under his armpit. Gone was the relieving weight of the Magical Artifact, and in its stead was now the thumping of his heart growing louder by the second.
He glanced at the group waiting behind him, looking at him as if he had all the answers in his mind. Not the lawyer, though, and certainly not the Healer, who seemed a lot like the time when he spat senselessly the notions of his heretic mind right after they’d taken him to the carriage.
Who would do that? Who in his sane mind would thrash and jest about religion when he has a group of Templars breathing down his neck? Who would be so foolish as to believe he has all the answers?
Perhaps he should’ve let Dain take Valens with him, too. Lenora could’ve given him a point or two about the Bishop. Or, in a more likely scenario, that spiteful woman would’ve further stoked the embers of doubt burning in the Healer’s heart. Would’ve likely encouraged him to speak his mind, too—to tell the Bishop that he was indeed a heretic and was here for another round to finish up the deed Baht couldn’t have managed to complete some years before.
It’s too late to think about these things.
“Enter, you lightless, brainless, rot-smelling, foul-reeking fool! I don’t have all the time in the world for your nonsense! I have a city of thousands to care for and an endless number of bastards seeking deals with the shadows. The. Shadows!”
“He’s having one of those episodes,” Garran came up behind him, patting a trembling hand on his shoulder plate. “I’d say we send the lawyer first. Let him take the brunt of it.”
Edric considered for a second whether the idea had any merit, but decided against it since he had no clue as to what this lawyer was capable of. That was the deal with Guild lawyers. You never knew from which angle they would take a jab at a case.
“No need,” Edric said, steeling his mind. He was a captain of the Golden Ward and a Templar with years of experience under his belt. He’d been to the Broken Lands for more raids than he could remember and recruited by the Bishop himself when his talents had been seen fit for the complicated work rather than the simple act of hacking the dwellers.