Reincarnated! A Tale of the Sorceress Amaya

After not being attacked anymore the man straightened his clothes, then he performed a small bow.

“I am Sir Cedric in the service of Lady Chione. I am investigating the disturbing rumours about this mind control scheme and potential fey involvement.” He said.

“Really? So, what evidence do you have? How did you find this lab?” I asked.

He frowned. “My Lady has her sources, obviously. And haven’t you encountered fey magic yourself?”

“We have found a disturbing number of things. The Inquisition, or whoever is leading them, is certainly experimenting with any magical creature they can find. They want an army of super soldiers. I suspect once they had discovered a way to affect the soul, they used it in different ways. The slave runes consume a part of the person's power. Maybe they wanted to compensate for that.” I theorised.

“I do not care for their motivations but those perversions have to be stopped. That said, I do not think you should involve the demons in this. I can appreciate your manipulation of the mortals but why invite Lady Lilith?” He asked.

“She seems much more trustworthy than you.” Lucy replied.

“Trustworthy? The queen of succubi? Master of mental manipulation? Ridiculous.” He replied.

“Fey are known for similar things.” Lucy pointed out.

“Preposterous! We are honourable.” He protested.

“No, Lucy does have a point. Fey are known for their tricks, illusions,... Wait, are you jealous of Lilith? Because she is more famous for such things?” I wondered.

“WHAT?!? My Lady, this slander is uncalled for!” He protested.

Shani snickered.

“Lady Delphinium, you have surrounded yourself with bad influences.” He said.

“I am a great influence! Amaya has slaughtered so many things since I joined her!” Shani protested.

The man shook his head. “Storm elementals.” He muttered.

“What was that?” Shani asked, raising her scythe.

“So far, you haven’t told us much.” I said, hoping to move the conversation forward. “I do not know Lady Chione. You have offered no helpful information and no real explanation for your presence.”

“Hm. I do admit I have very little knowledge about yourself, Lady Delphinium. I have only heard rumours among the fey courts. My Lady herself has not gifted me with more information. But surely you have heard of Lady Chione, even if you are not acquainted.” He said.

“You realise evoking the name of someone famous does not prove allegiance? Not that I have ever heard of her myself.” Lucy pointed out. “I suggest we let Shani beat him up and drag him back to camp.”

“I am the personal knight of Lady Chione! Attacking me after declaring my allegiance would be an attack on her court!” He protested.

Lucy shrugged. “She should hire better people then.”

“Sir Cedric, so far you have not offered any useful information. You failed to explain your presence here to my satisfaction. Come with us peacefully, as our prisoner.” I demanded.

He looked at us, maybe considering his chance of escaping. Then he pulled a blue crystal from his belt.

“Shani, take him.” I had no idea what he was up to, but it did not look like he was surrendering.

Then the crystal in Cedric’s hand shattered. A small sphere appeared. His body turned into blue mist and was sucked into the sphere.

“What is that?” Lucy asked.

“He fled into the fey realm! What a coward!” Shani protested.

I sighed. “This whole thing keeps getting more complicated. Let’s search the lab. We still have a duke to find.”

Besides the main room there were more chambers. Some were offices, others looked like a twisted version of an operating room. They certainly had a lot of surgery equipment. We also found the duke.

He was chained to a table. His clothes were removed and they had started cutting into his torso. Empty potion bottles were around. Some liquids were spilled from smashed vials. I could see runes carved into the duke’s flesh. I checked his pulse.

“He is dead.” I said. “It looks like they were interrupted during their work. Maybe they fled when they heard fighting, or maybe Cedric stopped them.”

“Or maybe Cedric was doing those things and we interrupted him?” Lucy suggested.

“Possible.” I admitted. I had not really known the duke. But seeing his dead body on the table made me sad, and angry. Nobody deserves that. The Inquisition had to be stopped.

“Why did the Inquisition bother with a siege? If they had this lab, all those soldiers, people inside the duke’s ranks…” Lucy wondered.

“Good question. Maybe they needed it for appearances? They did not do a lot of damage to the city. Maybe the plan was to take the duke, enslave him, then have him surrender. He could have held a speech about how the emperor has abandoned them. How he negotiated a truce. Maybe pretend to be a neutral party after coming to an understanding with the Inquisition.” I paused, considering the scenario. “Maybe they wanted to give him a good reason for abandoning the Empire and declaring independence, sort of. Then have a truce with the Inquisition and become a harbour for refugees. Take in anyone who flees from the south. It would give the Inquisition a secure base and a lot of people to experiment on.”

Lucy looked around once more. “Sick bastards.” She said.

I collected the body in my storage and we left the room. I also gathered some samples of different liquids in the lab. Maybe I could send those to Josef. Once Loriel and Dalroc were awake again they could send their people to truly search the lab. Maybe it would help us find a cure.