CHAPTER 890: LAST RESORT (PART ONE)

The rebuke stung like a slap across the cheek, and it was the first time that the young knight had ever refused to yield to the power of the church in the entire time that Acolyte Holm had known him. For a moment, the acolyte stood there stunned, as if he couldn’t believe the words he’d heard.

"Excuse me?" Holm said as he glared at the young upstart who evidently thought he had the authority to exile the chosen representative of the Holy Lord of Light. "Sir Rhodri," the acolyte said as he turned to the village’s former lord. "Did I hear correctly? Does your son believe that he can cast the Church and the Holy Lord of Light out of this village to give it over to the demons?"

"Don’t twist words, Acolyte Holm," Sir Rhodri said, lowering his snowy brows at the Acolyte who was clearly trying to stir the pot before the crowd. "My son is the lord of this village, and he said he’s through with charlatans misleading his people. If you think that applies to the whole of the Church of the Holy Lord of Light instead of just yourself, then that’s a declaration you’ve made, not one that he has."

By now, the crowd had gone deadly quiet, and several people were all but holding their breath as they watched the conflict unfold. No matter whether a person supported Acolyte Holm and the Church or the Belvins and their rulership of Raek Village, it was clear that the two were rapidly becoming irreconcilable enemies. At this point, no matter who won the confrontation, the consequences for the villagers would be dire.

"The Church is welcome to send a new Acolyte or a proper Priest to serve the people here," Carwyn said carefully as he surveyed the villagers in the crowd. By his estimate, nearly one man in five seemed to lean favorably in the direction of Acolyte Holm, and nearly twice as many seemed intensely uncomfortable at the notion that Carwyn was casting out the Church entirely.

Carwyn hadn’t wanted to make this a confrontation about faith until he’d explained several other things to the villagers. Once he’d explained the coming conflict and how their village would be kept safe, and how their Eldritch neighbors would help them prosper, it would be much easier to handle the few people who clung to their faith to resist joining forces with Dame Sybyll and Lady Ashlynn. But now, he had to do something to reassure the most devout among the faithful of his village, or all of this would spiral out of control.

"I doubt the Church in Lothian City or even in the Holy City has a Priest to send who can accept our Eldritch allies and neighbors," Carwyn continued with a wry smile as he spread his arms helplessly. "So if the Church cannot provide for us, then I’ll write to Lady Nyrielle in the Vale of Mists and ask if High Inquisitor Ignatious will be kind enough to visit our village at least once a month until someone suitable can be found to take the acolyte’s place."

Invoking the name of Inquisitor Ignatious was one of the strategies that Lord General Thane had recommended if things went poorly with the Church in Raek Village. It was something that Carwyn had hoped to avoid because Thane had made it clear that someone in the village would need to be willing to offer up blood for the vampire Inquisitor every time he visited, but bringing it up gave the young knight the ability to make it clear that his issue was with Acolyte Holm and not the Church or the faith of his villagers.

In time, Carwyn didn’t know what would happen to his people’s faith. The Church’s teachings were littered with too many lies about the Eldritch and Witches to put the same kind of faith in the rest of their teachings. At the same time, even Carwyn didn’t want to let go his deep, abiding belief in the Heavenly Shores and that a man should struggle to do the best that he could in this life before he passed on to the next.

"High, High Inquisitor?" Holm said as he felt his world twist sideways as if someone had pulled a rug out from under his feet, while his stomach plummeted all the way to his knees. "H-how is there a High Inquisitor in the Vale of Mists? It isn’t possible! No Inquisitor could survive the clutches of the Demon Lady of the Vale!"

For Holm, it was as though he had been pulled back in time to the days after the War of Inches ended. The priests and acolytes who had distinguished themselves during the war were all coming home, and though many had died, many new stars were ready to take their place among the ranks of his betters.

Worse than the returning heroes, however, were the returning acolytes who still had ’potential’ and would become priests one day. Men who had learned to perform minor miracles in the healing tents on the battlefield or who actually stood in battle against a demon and called upon the flames of the Holy Lord of Light.

The church wanted to give Holm’s position in Lothian Temple to such men, so he was sent to the furthest village at the western edge of the frontier, a place so small and unpromising that only an acolyte was needed to preside over the temple there. A tiny, unimportant acolyte. One that an upstart knight thought he could easily trample beneath the feet of his horse and exile from his village.

Blazing hot fury simmered in Holm’s chest as he realized that Sir Carwyn would never do this to a full Priest. He would never do it to an Inquisitor or a Templar either. He proved it when he said that he would turn to some mythic ’High Inquisitor’ in the Vale of Mists!

"It doesn’t matter how he’s there," Carwyn said sharply, pulling Holm’s attention back to the present as the knight’s patience with the aging acolyte reached its end. "I will explain everything to the villagers here, but you are no longer welcome among us."

"I told you to leave, Acolyte Holm," Carwyn said as he placed a hand on the hilt of the dagger at his waist. "I expect you to exit the great hall immediately, or you will be removed by force," he said with a nod toward two of the soldiers who stood guard over the gathering.

As soon as the guards started to move, Holm’s eyes narrowed and his hands clenched into fists as he realized he was all but out of options. He could feel it, there were many in the crowd who were with him, and some were already whispering their doubts about a ’High Inquisitor’ in the Vale of Mists who would come to visit their village.

If the Inquisition came, it would come with Templars and Holy Fire to cleanse the heresy of cooperation and collaboration with demons. There could be no compromise with evil, but it was clear that if the people were truly going to understand that, then they needed a demonstration.

They needed to see the power of the Holy Lord of Light to repel the demons and to purge evil from among them, or they would never rally behind him to attack the demons across the river and take back their village.

Thankfully, Holm had known he might need to take dramatic action against the demons if he was going to convince the people to rise up against a knight they adored so much, and he’d come prepared to make just such a demonstration...