Chapter 253: Resolve
The moment the Inquisitor drew his sword, the crowds scattered, flowing past the approaching men and women like water. In an attempt to blend in with the fleeing people, but it soon became clear they had locked on to my position.
The entire situation felt impossible. Even if someone had seen me in the brief seconds I’d been exposed, why had they reported it with such haste? Had the Inquisitors really been ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, or was it just pure happenstance? Most importantly, did they know who I was, or did they simply think me a demonkin they wanted to interrogate?
At the thought of suffering through their cruel torture yet again, a long, dreadful shiver traced down my spine, shaking me to the tip of my tail. Memories of my treatment at the hands of the inquisitors rose unbidden, and I gasped in pain, pressing a hand to my chest, my soul throbbing. Panic closed up my throat, and my breathing came in short, shallow gasps. I gripped my staff tightly, backing against the wall, gaze switching wildly from inquisitor to inquisitor as they closed in.
The street was close to empty now, with only a few, brave and very bored people clinging to the alleys, peering at the scene. I counted five inquisitors, three men and two women. The women were the same I’d seen outside the inn, an older, hardened inquisitor, and a younger girl with brown hair and piercing green eyes. The men were tall and strong, wrapped in plate armor and bearing large broadswords.
"Well done," the older woman murmured, resting a proud hand on the green-eyed inquisitor’s shoulder. "It seems your intuition was correct after all."
They seemed close, but there was a professional sense of distance. Master and apprentice, perhaps? Either way, they conversed in hushed voices, unaware that I could, with my demonkin senses, make them out.
"We can’t be sure yet, Leera," the girl replied.
She studied me closely, trying to peer past my hood and at my face. When that failed, her gaze dropped lower, falling on my cloak-covered chest in anticipation. She sighed as disappointment clouded her face, her hands tightening into fists. What had she been looking for?
"Indeed." The inquisitor nodded, and raised her voice, directly addressing me. "By order of the Divine, all demonkin are sought for questioning. Surrender yourself, and you will remain unharmed.."
I stood still and silent, watching them from beneath my cowl. My breathing was still light and shallow, but the initial surge of panic had faded. The woman, Leera, seemed to be the leader, as well as the strongest among them, falling somewhere near the peak of fourth level. The rest were scattered between third and fourth.
The young inquisitor, Aqua, caught my attention with her intriguing aura. There was a depth to her soul that seemed to exceed her current abilities, reminiscent of mages of higher levels. It triggered a sense of familiarity, though the memory eluded me, like trying to recall a distant dream.