“There’s no telling what lies beyond these doors,” the heretical fox said. “Be wary.” He handed his gnarled walking staff to Regina.
“W – why are you giving me this?” Regina asked.
“If things get as messy in there as they did out here, you’re going to have to fight,” the fox said. “I doubt you know how to properly wield a weapon, but don’t think I missed it when you fended off that grunt officer general back there.”
Regina squeezed her digits tighter around the staff.
Maybe if I bash him in the back of the head, I can run away… she thought, but then shook the idea out of her mind. If the arrows didn’t do anything to him, why would a hit like that?
“…Please, let me go,” Regina begged him. “I – I swear, I won’t tell anybody about you … please, I just – I know you need an airship, but please leave Dwain and me out of this...! There are plenty of Alliance outposts all over Vida! There’s one in Altas, for goodness’ sake!”
“I can’t do that,” the fox grunted. “There may be outposts all over Vida, but none of them harbour airships. Only Doblah does. I don’t have time to wait around for an airship to make a brief stop in Altas or Keeto. That could be days from now.”
Without another word, he leaned his weight against both Temple doors, and with a low creak, the hinges gave way. The doors folded inward to reveal darkness, and the heretic entered.
Regina followed behind without instruction. A strong, repugnant smell filled her nostrils. Around the dimly-lit shrine lay a small number of robed animals crumpled against wooden pews or sprawled across the interlocked stone floor. Many of the robed animals looked as though they were cut down by swords. Others looked to be felled by arrows.
The heretic swore and wandered over to a young feline who sat slumped against the nearest pew to the Temple’s entrance. The robed cat’s chin was drooped against her chest, where two long arrow shafts stuck out of her robes.
Regina went rigid as soon as her eyes met those of an old, liver-spotted pig in dark robes, who lay sprawled along a small set of carpeted stairs up to an altar, at the far end of the shrine. Part of his head looked like it had been crushed with a blunt object.
“They’re all…” Regina started, but she couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.
“Dead,” the fox confirmed. He rose to his footpaws and checked the pulse of another robed animal. “This one, too. I had hoped it didn't come to this.”
“Who would do such an awful thing?” Regina demanded as her eyes started to well up.
The heretic was already at the altar steps by the time Regina finished. He kneeled by the robed pig, felt for a pulse, and then sadly shook his head before continuing up the steps.
“Did those Alliance soldiers do this?!” Regina cried out at the heretic.
“Your mind and eyes are well-grounded in the virtue of logic,” the fox grunted. He slid General Uriost’s saddlebag from around his shoulders and placed it on the altar. He undid the bag’s fastened flap and slid both paws inside.
A sudden sharp, kneading sensation ripped through Regina’s mind as the charcoal-furred animal withdrew a hefty-sized diamond-like jewel from the bag.
…Regina … Regina Lepue…
Regina’s eyes widened. “That voice…!”
The heretic raised the large jewel above the altar. Regina noticed that there was a deep, jagged chunk missing off of one side of the gem. The diamond started to glow a radiant grey colour, and even though the fox took his paws away, the jewel remained in-air, floating on its own accord.
…Regina… The voice throbbed in her mind. ...Evil brews deep in the mountains … Only one of a pure heart may bring us all together … to seal peace forevermore on Vida…
“What … what is that?” Regina asked as the now-dull glow around the grey jewel throbbed to life a second, more prominent this time.
“You should know,” the heretic responded as soon as he proceeded backwards down the stairs to admire the engorged jewel, “You live in the region of Wind, after all.”
“Wind…?” Regina repeated. Her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out the fox’s cryptic words – and then almost at once, everything made slight sense. “You mean that’s the Crystal of Wind?!” Regina let out. A cold flash of realization then coursed through her. “This … this place is … the Temple of the Wind Crystal?!”
“Yes,” said the heretic. “I’m surprised a girl your age knows of such Vidian lore. Not many pay homage to our ancient culture anymore – not since Lablanche saved us from turmoil after the so-called ‘revolution’.”
Regina heard footpaws race up the steps outside, and when she turned around, the two Alliance soldiers from before barreled into the Temple, armed with readied crossbows.
“Remain where you are!” shouted the general.
The heretic, who still faced the altar, dipped his head. “You’ve made a grievous mistake.”
Regina then heard a door creak open somewhere in the Temple.
Someone’s alive! She thought.
A shadow spilled along the wall just behind the altar, and from the hallway beyond, came forth a hare wearing an Alliance chest plate, complete with chain mail and paw gauntlets. A vibrant red cape flowed from around his shoulders.
“So, it is true ... it was you last night,” the hare exclaimed with an air of elation.
Regina’s eyes flicked over to the heretic, where he stood at the bottom of the altar steps.
“They said it was you in the briefing, but I just couldn’t believe it!” the hare continued and gave a short but enthusiastic clap as he came to a stop at the edge of the altar, where the Crystal of Wind hovered, glowing. He eyed the Crystal and clicked his tongue. “So I see you’ve met with my other units.”
“Rudolph Aruto?” the heretic grunted in surprise. “They sent a mere sergeant out here to get me? What fools.”
“They sent Uriost here, too,” the hare shrugged. “And she’s only a swordsman officer general.”
“You and General Uriost killed all these people?!” Regina cried.
The hare threw a bewildered look at Regina, who he hadn’t noticed until then. “Wherever did you find this girl, old man?”
“Don’t concern yourself with her!” snarled the heretic. “…He’s getting desperate, isn’t he then, if he’s sending even the peons after me.”
Sergeant Aruto scoffed. “You’re not the only criminal on Vida.” The hare then snapped his paws at the two Alliance soldiers guarding the Temple doors. “Axel, Mullin – Arrest them.”
The two lesser soldiers started forward, but at the scratchy sound of Nimbus being drawn out of its sheath, they froze.
“There it is…” Aruto said with reverent awe in his voice as he gazed upon the half-revealed sword at the heretic's hip. “The holy sword Nimbus … ‘The Blade of the Unicorn’! Prime Minister Lablanche will be ever so pleased to have it returned.”
“Not as long as I wield it,” said the heretic.
“Everything you say and do will be held accountable in court,” Aruto stated plainly. “So, I'd suggest playing nice and setting the sword down at your footpaws.”
“I will not.”
A drop of sweat rolled down Regina's forehead as she watched the exchange with muscles so tensed, she was paralyzed.
“…I was told this may happen,” Sergeant Aruto said. “I thought we could talk this out like civilized mammals – but apparently not so. Ah well.” The hare reached inside a pouch at the belt around his waist, and withdrew a gleaming object clenched between his gauntleted digits. He raised it to cheek-level, and smiled. “They warned me you were a stubborn old dog.”
Aruto gave the object a tight squeeze, and the Wind Crystal behind him throbbed back to life.
“What is that?” the heretic started to ask, but was cut off by the whistling screeches of a harsh gale that picked up around the sergeant hare.
Aruto extended his arm, and the strong wind encircled up into the Temple’s rafters, and then came
down with such force upon the heretic, that the fox dropped Nimbus, and was thrown hard into a number of pews near the back of the shrine.
“Apprehend her,” Aruto pointed at Regina. He hopped down the steps and carefully scooped Nimbus up in both paws.
Regina swung around with the heretic’s walking staff brandished in both paws, just as the two Alliance troops drew forward with their crossbows leveled at her.
“I had forgotten how beauteous she is out of her glass case…” the hare mused as he admired the blade at eye-level.
“Please, just let me go!” Regina begged the soldiers. “I'm not with the heretic! I just got lost in Altas and saw the fight outside!”
Aruto tossed back a quizzical look at the skunk. “Is that so?” he asked, and flicked his attention to the two Alliance officers.
“Sir, she attacked me with that staff when I was about to arrest the heretic!” the grunt officer general announced.
Aruto looked back at Regina and squinted at her before saying, “If that is true, you do realize you face trial and detention for counts of aggravated assault against an authority – as well as additional counts of intervening against public safety and assisting a traitor to Doblah?”
“B-but…”
“I'll deal with you after,” Aruto promised Regina, and then gave a short nod to the archer named Mullin as he pocketed the magical object he had used to summon the windy attack. “Go see to the heretic.”
“Yes, sir,” Mullin nodded. She started to edge towards the far side of the shrine, to where the heretic lay struggling amidst the debris of splintered wood. She froze suddenly and took a quick side-glanced at the Nimbus sword now held in the paws of her commanding officer.
“Is there a problem, Mullin?” Aruto asked.
She swallowed hard. “N-no, sir…”
“Just get it over with, Mullin,” Axel commanded. “The sooner we get back to Doblah with the heretic and his little friend here, the better.”
Mullin murmured a quick apology and started down between two vacant pews with her crossbow ready and aimed at the heretic, who pushed some wood off of him, and tried to get to his feet with little success.
“Axel, come and retrieve the Crystal for me, will you?” Aruto asked as he gazed upon the beautiful white-hilted sword in his possession. He lifted the sword up in one paw and light from one of the Temple’s stain glass windows glinted across the blade, and revealed subtle stains that coursed along the tip and sharp edges. Aruto frowned. “You desecrated it.”
“You monster!!” Regina suddenly screamed at the hare. “What did these innocent people do to die?! You’re bound by Doblah to serve and honour Mother Azna’s law!”
“Axel.” Aruto ordered without breaking awestruck gaze with Nimbus.
Regina swung the heretic's walking staff into the grunt officer general before he could apprehend her. With a sharp yelp, the soldier let go of his crossbow and stumbled backwards with his arms across his chest in pain.
“Axel!” Mullin cried out. As soon as she turned on Regina, the heretic found his balance, and tackled her from behind. The both of them fell hard to the floor, just as Mullin fired her weapon. The arrow whizzed through the air, ricocheted off of a structural pillar near Regina, and caught Aruto in the shoulder joint of his chainmail.
The hare fell back against the altar in surprise, and Nimbus slipped from his paws, where it clattered to the floor and slid down a couple of steps.
“Drop the weapon, skunk!” Axel demanded as he started towards her.
“Have it!” Regina yelled. She tossed the walking staff right at the Alliance soldier, who cowered with arms over his helmet as the heavy rod hit him. Regina then went for Axel’s crossbow and aimed it at him.
“She has some fight in her after all!” grunted Aruto as he struggled up against the altar to regain himself. He grabbed the arrow shaft, and let out a sharp yelp as he snapped it off. “Old man, I’m impressed!”
“So am I,” muttered the heretic. He dragged Mullin to her feet, and threw the archer into the middle of the Temple, where she landed in a bundle by a couple of felled robed animals.
Wide-eyed, Regina swung around and aimed the crossbow at the heretic’s chest as he drew near. He tilted his head at her with a skeptical look, then started down the carpet aisle towards Aruto and the Nimbus.
“No!” Mullin cried out and struggled to her feet, just as the heretic retrieved his prize. She dropped her crossbow and ran at him. Within a blink, the heretic knocked her in the visor with the sword's hilt, and then when she was doubled over, he buried Nimbus's blade deep into Mullin’s abdomen.
“Get him, Axel! Get him!!” Aruto screeched as he clamoured backwards up the altar steps like some kind of crab – and just as the Alliance sergeant went for the pouch at his hip again, the heretic stomped down onto the hare's stomach, with the tip of Nimbus at his heart.
Aruto's eyes darted past the heretic's shoulder, where he saw the archer laying on her side in the middle of the floor.
“I ... I don't understand,” Aruto said in a quaking voice. “Mullin, get up! You're fine!”
But the fallen archer lay silent and motionless.
“Sir, this heretic managed to slay Farnam and Bale just outside,” said Axel in a trembling voice, eyes glued to the sight of his newly fallen comrade. “It ... it must be true. What Uriost said about that sword!”
Aruto's eyes flicked to meet the heretic's. “I believed Nimbus’s power was just a legend until today,” he rasped.
“Indeed,” the fox agreed, and sank the first inch of the Blade of the Unicorn into the hare's body. “Where is General Uriost going to next?”
Aruto tilted his head back with a loud yelp. Then, grunting and wheezing behind gritted teeth, he looked back down at the cold steel sticking out of his chest plate. Don't!! Please – she's going to Syreen! Please!!” He grappled at the blade with both paws, and let out a shriek when the heretic penetrated deeper.
“Send Lieutenant Artois my regards,” the heretic said in a low voice.
The Alliance sergeant let out a short gurgle, and then went limp against the altar steps.
“How convenient,” the heretic mused, and then withdrew Nimbus from Aruto’s body. “Syreen is on the way to Garia.”
Regina swallowed hard, despite the dry and bitter taste in her mouth. The rank stench of death that clouded the Temple made her head start to spin. She dropped the crossbow and found herself in great need to sit and let her head stop spinning.
“Leave,” the heretic said with his back still turned.
At first Regina thought the skilled and ruthless hooded swordsman was speaking to her, but she realized that the heretic’s words were to the remaining Alliance soldier, who had enough sense to recover the crossbow during Regina's haze but now remained rigid with fright.
“Leave this place,” the heretic said again. “Let the Alliance believe I slew you today. Exile yourself and start a new life.”
“Y – yes!” the grunt nodded. He let the crossbow clatter to his footpaws and made an unceremonious retreat out of the Temple, where he disappeared into the depths of the Stone Zephyr and Altas Forest, never to be seen again.
“You're gonna just let him go?” Regina rasped, and looked back at the heretic, who wiped off Nimbus's blade with the skunk’s fabric belt.
The heretic looked at her with lips parted to answer, but he didn't say anything. The fox re-sheathed Nimbus into its scabbard, and regarded Sergeant Aruto's corpse for a moment.
“What is it?” Regina asked from where she sat slumped against one of the Temple pews. She watched with hazy eyes while the fox dropped to one knee and fiddled around with the small leather pouch at Aruto’s hip. He retrieved what looked like a chunk of grey-coloured glass that had been broken off of something. The heretic squinted at the grey shard, and then slung off his giant camping pack and stuck the treasure inside one of the side-pockets.
“What is it?” Regina asked again.
The heretic climb
ed back to his footpaws and headed up to the altar. He grabbed General Uriost's saddlebag, and with some hesitation, took hold of the Crystal of Wind in both paws and slid it back inside.
“It isn't safe to leave the Crystal here,” the fox finally replied. “The Alliance will be back to retrieve it as soon as they've heard about today's massacre.” He slung the now-hefty saddlebag back around his shoulders, along with his large pack, and turned to face a shocked and confused Regina.
Regina shook her head to try and stave off her dizziness. When she opened her eyes, she found her gaze upon the body of the archer, who lay on her side in fetal position near the pews at the far side of the Temple.
“...You killed her,” the skunk murmured. “...She was just doing her job. They all were...”
“In war, death sees no difference in gender, age, or caste,” said the heretic in a dark voice as he passed Regina on his way to the Temple doors. He picked up the walking staff and tossed it by her.
“So it's war you're looking for, huh?” Regina asked. She took the staff and used it to help her stand.
“This war started long before your birth, skunk,” he heretic said after he reached the open entrance that looked out into the valley of the Stone Zephyr. He placed a paw against the door frame and leaned heavily against it with a long sigh. “A war many fought against and succumbed to. A war I wish I could have stopped when I initially had the chance.”
He shook his head and looked across the cliff face, to the wind-blown forest in the distance. The neigh of one of the neglected Alliance horses echoed through the air.
Regina raked some hair out of her eyes. She fought hard against the urge to look around at the number of corpses that littered the floor of what was supposed to be a house of worship. She closed her eyes as soon as they started to well up with tears.
“You’re wrong, by the way,” the heretic said.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“You were wrong before.” The heretic looked at her over his shoulder. “The Alliance is bound by Doblah to honour and serve Zoot Lablanche’s law – not Mother Azna’s.”
Regina stared at him in silence, but her wide and confused eyes said everything.
“There's a bridge not far from here that leads across to that other path in the forest,” the fox then stated. “Come on. If we leave now, we can make camp just past Keeto before moonlight. In the morning we'll head to Condor, where we can get a ship to Syreen.”
Regina's heart throbbed with hope – there was an Alliance outpost in Keeto, just like in Altas. She wondered if she could get untangled from this mess between the heretic and The Alliance if they arrested him as soon as they passed through Keeto's gates.
The fox eyed Regina coolly as the warm gale of the Stone Zephyr flapped at the loose ends of his cloak.
“See if that woman archer's armour fits you,” he said. “There's an Alliance outpost in Keeto that we need to get past.”
Regina's shoulders slumped with heavy defeat.