Chapter 29 - We are the Inquisition!

Fires ravaged the Royal Court all night. Their bright lights could be seen from the edges of the Capital. Pentalium bared its fangs and showed the Kingdom that it could kill anyone in this realm.

Come morning, after the fires have been put out, the bodies in the courtroom will be laid out on the steps of the Court to be inspected by the Inquisition.

Crying from seeing their relatives among the dead, the citizens demand that they claim the bodies of their relatives. The King, standing beside his friend the Inquisitor, asked the people to remain calm, for he asked the Inquisitor to do a public inspection to show the public that the Inquisition does not do forgeries and is doing their best to root out Pentalium from this Kingdom.

The Inquisitor turned to the victims and pointed out that the majority who died were also not innocent and deserved to die. His statement angered many people in the crowd, but there was quick silence when the Inquisitor pointed out that those who died were all being investigated by the Inquisition for having ties with Abigail and Margaret. They are suspected to be funding or helping the Pentalium. Among those who died is Baron Osbert. Sadly, some of the ones who died are the innocent ones, such as the knights and guards who gave their lives defending them.

The Inquisitor then turned his attention to the assassins. In addition to wearing black cloaks, they were all of the same height and armor yet bore different insignia of their houses. This revelation shocked many of the knights who were securing the perimeter. The Inquisitor brought the bodies before the crowd. House Aurelius, exiled of House de Vaunt, and a charred assassin bearing the Nohrwhen insignia are just some of the bodies shown.

The knights are ashamed to look. They stood for the Kingdom's best interest but never figured that some had fallen for Pentalium. The burning of the Royal Court ensured that these bodies were not tampered with. It was only recently that the fires were extinguished that they were able to retrieve the bodies from the debris.

People began to look at the knights with disgust and terror. Who can the citizens trust if their very protectors are susceptible to the corruption of Pentalium? Fear and discord had been brewing for weeks in the Kingdom, but knowing their trusted knights were betraying them felt like a stab wound for the knights and the King.

The people are shaken. Who can they trust? Who can they rely on? Who can fight Pentalium?

Their silence was met by the cold wind of winter blowing in the Capital. The gale waved the Inquisition flags above them as if God had given them a sign. Some in the crowd turned away, unable to meet the eyes of the grieving families. Whispers of doubt stirred, but none dared speak them aloud.

Then, someone muttered, "At least... someone's fighting back."

"The Inquisition fought for us," another voice added, louder this time.

Slowly, the tide shifted. Grief turned to fury. Mourning into allegiance.

The people's cheer gravitates to the Inquisition to be their savior. Raise an army to combat Pentalium. The Inquisitor was pleased they trusted him but asked the people to reconsider. This power painted this Kingdom bloody forty years ago and demanded they not go to such extreme lengths again.

But his words were drowned when the people demanded the King give the Inquisitor its old power again.

Recalling his failure to unite his people during the plague that led to a civil war, the King weighed heavily on the people if it means to appease them. But he cannot allow the Inquisition to return to its full strength unless this is the Kingdom's demand.

"I will not repeat the mistakes of the civil war. Let the people decide, " the King muttered to himself.

The King then agreed, but the decision must be made by vote, as the King does not take this lightly. The people's resounding approval of the vote was unanimous.

With their voices heard, the King instructed the knights to spread the news of what transpired there and asked for a vote. The towns and cities were urged to vote to allow the Inquisitor to regain its power as judge, jury, and executioner.

A month later, their votes will be counted in the Palace. With everyone agreeing, the crowd chanted songs for the Inquisition.

While the people chanted, the King sat silent, his eyes heavy with doubt. And in that quiet pause between celebration and consequence, the Inquisitor slipped away, his victory built atop the ashes of the Court.

The Inquisitor left the Capital and rode his carriage back to his castle, the Abandoned Abyss. It was called such forty years ago that the suspected enemies of the Inquisition were brought here. They are interrogated by being left in a dark, empty cell with no window or light. Victims have lost their minds in the dark dungeon of the castle and are only released when they give the Inquisition what they want. There are only a few who survived this torture, and those who did have abandoned their sanity in the dark abyss of the Inquisition castle, thus its name.

But the castle now lies empty, with no army living in it and only a handful of the Inquisitor's servants staying there. As for its dungeons, the tenants claimed the Inquisitor regularly visited the abyss if he wanted to think.

During the long journey, the Inquisitor looked outside his carriage, asking himself if his parents were proud of his accomplishments.

He wasn't strong enough to defend his parents when they were murdered in front of him by the Sand People. The previous despot of the Kingdom didn't care for security. After the citizens confessed their plea, the crown still didn't listen, for the Sand People filled the crown's coffers. Until the inevitable invasion occurred, that was the only time the despot acted.

The Inquisitor knew this Kingdom's corruption ran deep since that day. He promised himself that the Kingdom would be rid of inadequate people from positions so the horror he experienced would never happen to anyone again. He would be its protector, their savior.

After two days of traveling to the east, the Inquisitor reached his castle and rested for the whole day after his exhausting travel home. By night, the Inquisitor dressed up, took a lamp, and traveled to the dungeon, where a pair of red eyes welcomed him with glee.

The Inquisitor asked if his staff visited the dungeons, and the Zonian across from him replied that no soul had ever set foot here and commented on the thick dust underneath them.

The Inquisitor placed his lamp on the ground, and the Zonian approached to reveal herself. She thanked him for saving her from the Court.

"I don't like being in debt, Abigail. Your father saved me forty years ago. I can repay him by saving you," the Inquisitor said. A smile can be seen across her face as she is proud. She imagines that if her father were still alive, he would be proud of their accomplishment.

Abigail turned her attention to the Inquisitor and complimented his well-executed plan. He used the assassination as cover to get Abigail out. During the chaos, his assassins dropped a body during the attack and switched with Abigail.

The Inquisitor instructed his men to burn her double to crisp to ensure everyone would believe Abigail was already dead. But he clarified that he didn't do this alone, and their Pentalium's leader was the one who gave the Inquisitor's assassins funding for it.

Abigail scoffed and hated the idea their illustrious leader had helped in her breakout.

But then Abigail remembered one detail she wanted to share with the Inquisitor since she was locked up. The security was tight and under the Princess' most trusted men, none of which were under the Pentalium's grip.

She leaned in and told the Inquisitor how she had been arrested. The Inquisitor listened intently and was shocked to learn what had transpired in the mines that day.

"William and John are Frosthold squires. They beat me. And William… he's a Zonian." Abigail said

The Inquisitor asks how it is possible. All Zonian families know each other and have records of their descendants and ancestors. But William isn't from any known Zonian families. Abigail thought of that, too, in prison and shared her sentiments that maybe William's ancestors were of Kingdom's and intermingled with the Zonian long ago, and their traits emerged in him.

Regardless of where William came from, the Princess informed the Inquisitor that William knew about their previous attacks. From their fight, Abigail was sure that William had dueled Zonians before.

The Inquisitor smiled and replied that he just concocted a plan to remove William from the picture.

"Do I get to stab him?" Abigail asked.

The Inquisitor smiled. "Stab him. Burn his town. Whatever pleases you." An answer Abigail is well pleased with.

"But I have something for you too," the Inquisition then revealed to Abigail. He had gone to Margaret's Keep to check on the mural found underneath. And there, he found the mural and its prophecy in its sewer. The Inquisitor revealed its contents to her as he had to their leader days before.

In disbelief that their ancestors predicted their plans, Abigail believes they are on the right path and will emerge victorious.

At this moment, each Pentalium member sights themselves as the prophesized warrior who will emerge to rule this land. Each sees themselves as this land's savior. In their hubris, they begin to think that if they conquer the Kingdom, how can they get ahead of the other Zonians?

They will have to dream as, for now, the Inquisition poised itself to gain more power.

This caused Abigail to raise her brows and ask how the Inquisition would do that. "You condemned some of the families that support us, right? You exposed the exiles and those funding us."

"I exposed them to appease the people," the Inquisitor said. "But I never let go of my pawns. They're tucked away now . . . waiting."

The guilty are taken into the Court and Palace's dungeons. The public will see this as the Inquisition is getting close to taking out Pentalium, but in reality, they are just being stored there for the moment. Soon, the guilty will be transferred to the dungeon of the Abandoned Abyss. They will remain hidden until the time comes to seize the Kingdom from within.

The Inquisitor gripped his hand and passionately told Abigail that once the people voted his full power back, the Inquisition could paint anyone as the Pentalium members and the masterminds behind all of their suffering. The guilty would be the Inquisition's army. They would wear masks and heavy armor to prevent anyone from noticing them.

And once their enemies are gone, the Inquisition can turn the blame to the King. And the Kingdom will be theirs.

Abigail was convinced of the Inquisitor's plan and asked him what she should do. The Inquisitor asked if she would like to be his right hand, an offer Abigail gladly accepted.

The two divulge further and formulate plans as to who to target first to cripple the Kingdom. For certain, William and his friends are at the top of the list.

A month has passed, and the Palace has begun counting the votes. The streets were chanting for the Inquisition while the Palace breathed in anticipation. Each time the KKing's hand reaches the ballot, the people in the Court hold their breath. But each time the King reads the results, the louder the cheers for the Inquisition.

By the time the King finished counting the votes, there was complete silence in the room as they waited in anticipation.

"The people have spoken! The majority has voted to favor the Inquisition's power to be reinstated in full force!" The King's voice echoed through the halls of the Palance. The people outside who heard his announcement erupted in celebratory singing.

The Inquisitor knelt before the King's throne and placed his hand atop the Book of the Inquisition resting in the King's palm. "With the power invested in me, the Inquisition shall hunt down the Pentalium members and their agents to save our Kingdom. Do you swear you shall only raise your sword against the guilty?"

"I swear." The Inquisitor proudly said.

The King raised the Inquisitor and declared that justice would prevail.

"From this moment on, all who oppose Pentalium are my allies. They fear us. They attacked us for we are justice. We will save the Kingdom from their grasp. We are the Inquisition!" The Inquisitor raised his fist as the crowd chanted his name.