Part 3: Old Ghosts
No one spoke for at least 5 minutes. In that time, the inquisitor kept stealing glances at the state of the furniture. Cassandra kept twirling the sword’s hilt with her hands and the blade kept scratching the floor.
“It’s about the mages isn’t it?” Keylan inquired. Cassandra did not speak for a while and then, she shouted, “YOU LET THEM GO!”
“They were innocent people, Cassandra. I couldn’t just execute them.”
“They had MURDERED an entire village -”
“- in self-defense.”
“- in COLD-BLOOD.”
It was a deafening silence.
“Cassandra, those mages had come to trade for food. When the cultists found out that mages had come to their village, they took one of the younglings and burned her. They were provoked, if we had been the-”
Suddenly, Cassandra lifted her sword and pointed at the Inquisitor’s chest.
“I obeyed the divine, when she said that I had to work with a mage.”
“What-”
“I obeyed, when she told me that a mage would lead the inquisition.”
“Okay, Cass-”
“But I will not stand by and let you free murderers.”
“You were THERE, CASSANDRA. You saw what they did, we took the decision together.”
“No we did not, you forced it on us.” Then she looked down and closed her eyes and murmured, “You don’t care how I feel.”
Inquisitor paused; he looked at the blade pointed at his chest, the tip was hovering over his heart. If Cassandra, so wished, she could impale him in a flash. He had never seem her this angry, he guessed that the anger was not about what happened today, something else was eating at her.
“Okay… I am really confused here. You did not say anything after what happened, even after we came back when all of us were having dinner together.”
“You are not fit to lead the inquisition; you are not fit to command us. I cannot… I will not follow a mage.”
Then Cassandra lunged. Before her blade could make contact with the inquisitor, there was a shockwave, Cassandra was pushed backward into the wall behind her; her sword flew and got impaled in the roof. Keylan moved towards Cassandra, he thought that she had been knocked out. Before he could reach her, Cassandra rolled towards the door and pulled out a dagger from her belt. She was effectively blocking his escape.
She rolled the dagger in her hand.
She started slashing viciously; Inquisitor tried his best to dodge the dagger. With every swipe she shouted
“My brother was killed by a mage…”
“I joined the seekers…”
“… because I wanted to protect people…”
“… from this curse of magic…”
“And now I myself under the influence of a mage…”
“You have been in my thoughts, my dreams…” She stopped. Both the seeker and the Inquisitor were out of breath. Keylan was going out of mind. For a brief moment, Cassandra and his eyes met. Tears swelled in her eyes, “I have been corrupted…”
With that she lunged on Keylan.