Chapter 64

For a moment she was glad she'd slipped on the coronet, the bracer, and had belted the ancient sword to her waist. Whenever she wore them, she was overwhelmed with a feeling of righteous serenity. A feeling that she was wholly and completely in control of herself and everything around her. Self-possessed and radiating utter calm in the face of any adversity.

Down the hall she could see the great double doors that led to the High Court. A pair of paladins guarded the doors with sword and shield. She'd need that self-possession.

The hall to the High Court was heavy and dour in its decor, with thick hexagonal pillars of charcoal granite carved in the traditional fleur-de-lis and ringed in gold. Each pillar was carved with scripture from the Golden Book. In between each pillar was a carved statue of Grand Cardinals of the past, each holding the Rule of Law, a chest-high staff wreathed with leaves and topped with a small golden sun. Each of them glared down at the petitioners that approached the double doors of the High Court.

Downstairs, in the gallery of the main hall, visitors could see the banners of nations and tribes which had joined with the Anglish Empire in equanimity. Here were the banners of the conquered, the defeated. All were laid low by the awesome might of the Golden Lady's Empire.

This section of the Grand Cathedral was paced and patrolled regularly by the soldiers of the Golden Lady, for here was its administrative heart, the great narthex of power. Six women, six Lady Cardinals oversaw the Empire, and the Grand Cardinal Herself oversaw them.

The dark colors and constant pacing of troops made the approach a somber, terse affair, but most affected to pay it no mind.

Katarina was immediately halted as she approached by a quartet of guards, hands gripping swords.

"You may not approach the High Court armed." One, a hard-bitten older woman growled.

Katarina handed the woman her Writ and Warrant wordlessly.

"Witch Hunter, eh?" the woman asked, reviewing the documentation. Katarina nodded. "That's right. I've been summoned."

"There's no mention of it on the lists." The woman replied doubtfully.

"Expected but unexpected." The woman barked, and Katarina smiled at her gently. "That's right. May I continue?"

The woman nodded. "I see no reason to hold you. Keep your hands away from your weapons." She warned curtly, and Katarina nodded.

The High Courtroom was both stark and opulent, displaying both the authority and wealth of the church in a way that brooked no opposition. The room was dominated by a massive judicial tribunal bench of dark wood that was greater than the height of a man in an inverted V, requiring petitioners to stand facing the Grand Cardinal, and flanked by her Lady Cardinals, three to each side.

The floor was black basalt, finely ground and polished in hexagonal tiles, except for the petitioner's stand, which was yellow marble worked in the gentle curves of a lily, edged in gold. The walls were polished wood, stained dark, interspersed at regular intervals with candle racks with polished metal backs, which illuminated the room.

As Katarina strode into the room, there was already someone in the petitioner's stand, a young noble with glossy black hair pulled into a ponytail, and the Grand Cardinal was addressing him. He was sweating profusely, the collar at the nape of his neck was soaked.

"-you cannot fail in this, you understand? This situation requires the highest level of delicacy."

"Your Lady Grace, I understand what you ask of me, but-"

"You object? It does not have to be you. It could be your family. There are other petitioners."

He slowly and somewhat jerkily went to one knee and bowed his head.

One of the Lady Cardinals waved him away. "You may depart."

He got up with as much grace as he could muster, and turned to leave. He locked eyes with Katarina, and his eyes dipped to the sword on one hip and the heavy pistol on the other. His jaw dropped and his throat worked, but he left without a word.

"Announce yourself, Petitioner." a clerk demanded.

"Fuck you." Katarina replied disdainfully, striding into the room and making an obscene gesture with her hand. The Lady Cardinals frowned disapprovingly almost as one, but Katarina strode up to the Petitioner's Stand, golden tassels on her waist-wrap switching back and forth. She briefly busied herself with swinging the heavy duster off her shoulders.

She casually draped her coat over the railing surrounding the Petitioner's Stand, stripped off her gloves and tucked them behind her belts. From her coat she pulled out a wood and leather case and placed that on the Petitioner's stand and swept her hat off her head and bowed with an extravagant flourish, her silvery braid flipping over her shoulder.

"As you command, Your Grace, so do I come." She greeted ostentatiously.

She raised back up and flipped her braid back over her shoulder, and if anything, the disapproving gazes deepened. She allowed their gazes to slide over her, and stood there, seemingly unruffled, eye to eye with the ruling council of the Anglish Empire, the Book of the Golden Lady.

Always start from a position of strength.

She met the gazes of the Lady Cardinals one at a time, boldly and without fear. Gabrielle, Olivia, Celeste and Phoebe elicited no reaction or expression, but her eyebrow rose at Yuriko and Constance herself drew a focused, narrow-eyed scrutiny. She barely glanced at the Grand Cardinal at all.

That one, there. You know what must be done. Let it be done, and swiftly. A voice advised in her head. She nodded at that.

She glanced again up at the Grand Cardinal. Katarina's eyes widened in sudden recognition.

The woman who held the position of Grand Cardinal smiled dryly, and glanced to the left and right at her Lady Cardinals, sampling their reactions. The Grand Cardinal's mouth worked for a moment.

For a moment, Lady Cardinal Olivia was transported back seven years in time. Those bold, flashing eyes, daring a challenge.

The smells of the forest mingling with the salt from the sea, the ever-present dust from the highway. Not yet a Lady Cardinal; allowed her first vacation from Darnell in two years, she was taking the overland route past the dwarven tower of Cumorah, and then from there to her family's lands just west of Begierde.

The coach was as comfortable as such things could be but they clanked and rattled and bounced in ways she was unused to on this wide, but unpaved portion of the road to Cumorah, and the swaying was making her feel slightly queasy.

Just as she was debating an order to stop, the coach did just that, with a suddenness that nearly catapulted her from the bench.

It took her a moment to gather her thoughts, and as she was doing so, she was suddenly aware that the steady tramping of her soldier's boots had also fallen still as well. What was going on? What could be the matter? Banditry? An assassination? She had three hundred soldiers in front of her to ward the way forward, and three hundred more to ward behind. Bandits? Assassins?

If that were the case, shouldn't there be sounds of fighting, or ... something? She loathed to peek out the side of her carriage, but curiosity won out over caution. She peeked behind; the soldiers fondled sword hilts nervously and eyed the northern edge of the forest to the right suspiciously. She turned and looked towards the front of her train; the soldiers sat stiff-backed as if at a parade, except none of them had hands near weapons. Approaching the carriage from the front was a figure all covered in leather; a massive leather hat obscured the figures' face, the equally massive leather duster obscured the rider's features, yet as they passed, the soldiers visibly stiffened, and their mounts shied away.

"Driver, what is going on?" She queried.

"Not certain, My Lady." The man's voice was strained. "The word from the front is... a Witch Hunter."

Olivia's hand found her throat as icy adrenaline cascaded through her veins. A Witch Hunter. Practically a monster made human flesh. Olivia was a Cardinal of the Golden Lady, so she knew of the Witch Hunters, but only through reputation. Singular and ferocious, possessed of a deadly relentlessness; trained to be infinitely adaptable, infinitely flexible, infinitely deadly. A necessary terror loosed by the Golden Lady to hunt the Witch, the mutant, the heretic. Nothing could be denied them, no order refused.

The figure halted at the side of the carriage, and Olivia shrank back as they removed their hat. Olivia was shocked to see a woman of an age with herself. The woman raised her holy symbol, dangling from a thick chain.

"I take it you're responsible for these idiots?" The woman challenged.

"I-what?" Olivia replied. The woman was regal, with pale green eyes, with chiseled, aristocratic beauty.

"I said-" The woman began with obvious impatience and condescension. That got Olivia's spine up. No one condescended to her!

"They are my armsmen, yes." She replied. "And who might you be?" She challenged. "Assassin? Bandit? Some highwayman?"

"Nothing so entertaining, I'm afraid." The woman replied, her eyes never leaving Olivia's own. "I am Katarina, Witch Hunter in service to the Golden Lady. You and your men are fucking up my investigation."

"Excuse me?" Olivia replied, recoiling at the vulgarity.

"I didn't stutter." The woman replied comfortably. "You and your men are interfering with a Witch Hunter's investigation."

"We are not." Olivia replied, dark curls of her hair had escaped their clips, as they were wont to do from time to time. "We travel-"

"I don't care." Katarina interrupted curtly. "Your prancing idiots for soldiers have obliterated the tracks of an escaped mage I have been hunting for weeks."

Interfering with a Witch Hunter's investigation was as bad as interfering with an Inquisitor's investigation. Perhaps worse, as Witch Hunters weren't known for subtlety. If Inquisitors lurked and searched and sifted for secrets with the precision of a surgeon, the Witch Hunters were the blunt murderous intent of a savage sword strike.

This Witch Hunter might condemn Olivia herself and the soldiers with her to death and there would be nothing anyone could do, no hand could be raised against her. Against the terror of the Witch, no quarter could be given, no forgiveness allowed.

"What... What would you have us do?" Olivia asked, and the cold, severe aristocratic planes and angles of the woman's face softened. This Katarina really was quite lovely, Olivia decided.

"What I want you to do," The Witch Hunter began, "is to not leave this spot. You're to hold position here for the next three days. Have the men eat and sleep in their saddles. I don't give a shit about their discomfort. I have to find that Witch."

Hold position? Here? Three days? The audacity of the woman.

The woman sidled her horse a step closer to the carriage. "Your name?" She asked curiously, conversationally, all authority slipping from her voice.

"I am Cardinal Olivia Wolfe." She replied, and the woman nodded once, a simple acknowledgement, nothing more. Olivia's ire rose even more. She'd show this woman, rules be damned. As soon as this Witch Hunter disappeared back wherever it was she came from, she'd-

"Your eyes." The woman interrupted her thoughts. "You're thinking, 'I'll wait until the Witch Hunter leaves, and then I'll continue on'." Katarina stated flatly, dangerously. "If you are not here for the full three days, I will add another name to my list, Cardinal." Katarina warned. "Tracking six hundred cavalry and a carriage is nothing. I will find you, and you will answer to the Goddess."

The memory faded as the woman crossed the floor of the High Court. Would the Witch Hunter remember the encounter on that dusty highway, seven years ago? Would she recognize Olivia?

Katarina suddenly burst out laughing, startling everyone in the High Court. The guards reacted by putting their hands to their swords. She gestured dismissively.

The Grand Cardinal met the gaze of the Justicar Witch Hunter. The Grand Cardinal presented a face that was too-smooth from fat; she could have been thirty or fifty. No way to tell her age from her face alone.

"You." Katarina breathed, cleared her throat. "You." She said again, clearer this time. "I remember you. You came for me, twenty years ago." She declared in a wondering voice. The Lady Cardinals goggled at the woman.

"...Francesca, right?" She asked curiously. The Grand Cardinal raised her eyebrows in surprise. It had been years since anyone had addressed her by name.

"That's right." She replied, and the High Court exploded, the Lady Cardinals shouting at the Witch Hunter's impropriety.

"What have you been up to while you were in Ardeal, Katarina?" The Grand Cardinal asked, cutting through the raucous shouting. Katarina gestured with her scrollcase.

"That's Boiyar Katarina lon Pavlenko." She replied, refocusing her attention on Constance, for some reason. "You forgot the title and the nobiliary particle." She explained indifferently. "I'd also accept 'Witch Hunter', 'Lady', 'Knight', or 'Inquisitor' as I hold those ranks within the Church, but I kind of prefer 'Boiyar' right now." She explained negligently, still focused on Constance, for some reason. "And to answer your question, I've been up to lots of things." Katarina replied ambiguously, never taking her eyes from Constance, who had begun returning Katarina's scrutiny with a quizzical expression.

Look. Concentrate.

"I'm here because you revoked my Writ and Warrant. I'd like them back, please." She added. "You've also accused me of being a sixth-degree moral threat, and before I submit myself for arrest I'd have the reason why."

The High Court was deathly silent from the moment The Grand Cardinal called the woman by name. The Lady Cardinals were overwhelmed with shock after repeated shock.

"We'll get to that in a minute." The Grand Cardinal replied with an irritated dismissive gesture. "I want to know what happened in Ardeal, Witch Hunter." She stated flatly.

Katarina rolled her eyes at that. "You likely already know the beginning, middle, and end of that story, and could likely tell it better." She replied, mirroring the Grand Cardinal's irritated dismissiveness. "I want to know why I've been accused so."

"How did you defeat a magical storm that shrouded the entire capital, Katarina? No mortal has that power before the Golden Lady." The Grand Cardinal replied testily, forcing the conversation change.

"I didn't." Katarina replied. "Now answer my question-"

"That flies in the face of our reports, Witch Hunter." The Grand Cardinal replied, talking over Katarina. "You will answer the question."

"I did answer." Katarina retorted. "It's not my fault you didn't like the answer. Now answer mine." She demanded pointedly. There. That shimmer.

"We felt like it." The Grand cardinal replied with a hard smile. "We can play that game as much as you like. You answer my question as well as you can, and I'll answer yours as well as I can." The Grand Cardinal replied, open anger in her voice. "Now."

Katarina rolled her eyes ostentatiously at this. "I don't know how to answer it any differently. You say I defeated a magical storm, but I know that I didn't. It was not me." She paused. "It would be blasphemous to say otherwise."

"Then who was it?" The Grand Cardinal demanded. "I require the truth of Ardeal, Witch Hunter. The complete and unfettered truth." She paused, irritated at Katarina's intense study of Lady Cardinal Constance. "And your undivided attention." she added.

"Your name?" Katarina asked Constance, ignoring the Grand Cardinal. There was always a challenge in probing magical enchantments, and Katarina would have liked to have touched the woman, as physical contact would make it so much easier.

"I am the Lady Cardinal Comment." the wiry woman replied simply. "You may address me as 'Your Grace, Lady Cardinal." Constance added acerbically.

It's comprised of layers. Just how much magic is involved, here?

"Katarina." The Grand Cardinal growled.

"You've heard my titles." Katarina replied to Constance instead. What is it? Illusion? Shaping magic?

"I have." The other woman acknowledged.

"You understand my responsibilities." Katarina replied flatly. She had to do this quickly.

"I do." the Lady Cardinal replied coolly.

"Good. I want to make sure there is no misunderstanding." She replied stiffly, hand going to the pommel of the longsword belted at her waist. The Grand Cardinal had a moment to note Katarina's white-knuckled grip and a sliver of baffled curiosity spiked through the irritation in her breast.

"Shall we begin now?" She asked, and Constance gave her a puzzled look.

"Justicar, I believe Her Grace asked you a question." Constance replied testily.

Katarina smiled. "As you wish." She replied comfortably. Phoebe nearly shrank back from that overwhelming serenity. That was the implacable calm that came with utter authority, complete mastery of everything and everyone around oneself.

"It is only with the fullness of time that Inanna's mysteries are revealed." She locked her eyes with Constances'. "That time has become irrevocable, creature. I hope you are prepared."

"What're you talking about?" Celeste remarked, face scrunched up.

"Lady Cardinal Constance, by my authority as a representative of the Holy Goddess, I do charge you with blasphemy, heresy, and witchcraft. Further, I charge you with subversion and manipulation of the Church of the Golden Lady." Her voice echoed with a hollow timbre that sent shivers down the spine of everyone in the room. "Under every authority granted by the Golden Lady, I order you to accept judgement."

Everyone gaped at Katarina in stone shock. A chorus of gasps as Katarina voiced these audacious words. Shock permeated the chamber like thick, ponderous clouds. The entirety of the Book of the Golden Lady was thunderstruck with the enormity of the affront. The guards eyed each other with bafflement. Who would dare to accuse a Lady Cardinal of witchcraft?

This audacious woman strolled in, spitting vulgarity and insouciance, brazenly and impudently thumbing her nose at appropriate etiquette and dress, and then accused one of them of heresy? Shock and outrage could only describe so much.

Constance struggled to find words. "...what... judgement... do you offer, Lady Katarina?" She managed to growl out, the cords in her neck taut. She couldn't move. Her legs were frozen. Her arms were frozen. She suddenly realized she couldn't even blink.

Katarina drew her gun, never once taking her eyes from the Lady Cardinal. "Death." She replied simply, and pulled the trigger.

The courtroom exploded into a thousand shivering screams of fright from the other Lady Cardinals, who ducked every which way as Lady Cardinal Constance's corpse slumped back and topped from her seat.

The two guards reacted, charging Katarina immediately, who dropped her gun to the basalt floor immediately and took three steps back. Dazedly, the Grand Cardinal noticed Katarina still had not released the white-knuckled grip of her sword, though the weapon remained in its sheath.

Gripping the hilt of her sword, Katarina shouted, "Stop!" At the top of her lungs. Bafflingly, everyone immediately froze in place. They could not move. Muscles trembled, but they couldn't move at all. It was as if she had simply frozen them into place with just her voice.

"Look to the creature." Katarina commanded in a more normal voice. "Look at it, and see the lie laid bare."

The guards looked up at the high bench, and the other Lady Cardinals turned to look at Constances' cooling remains, strangely compelled by Katarina's words. What greeted them was as baffling as it was hideous.

Whatever it was, it wasn't human. Its skin was mottled yellow and brown leathery scales, the head was saurian, lizardlike with a mouth full of jagged teeth, crowned with a half-dozen flaring horns. Her hands were knobbly and scaled, with inch-long talons.

"By the Goddess..." One of the Cardinals breathed, and was noisily sick.

"The creature hid itself with layer upon layer of enchantments, but I am a Witch Hunter." Katarina explained bluntly.

You've just given yourself some amount of leverage Katarina, but do not forget that these are the most powerful women in the Empire. A small lever is useless for a boulder.

The Grand Cardinal broke the silence first. "This session.... This session is sealed to the Emerald." She glanced about the room. "All of you. This is sealed, you understand? Sealed!" The last was nearly yelled in a half-shout.

Katarina shifted her feet. "It had to be done..." She began, but trailed off.

"Sealed, Witch Hunter!" The Grand Cardinal demanded, shock and anger at war on her face. She glanced at the other cardinals.

"You're all sequestered!" The Grand Cardinal yelled. Take your seats!"

The other Lady Cardinals all gave her baffled looks. One of their own had been revealed to be some strange monster, a demon, an abomination no one had heard of before, hidden behind the veils of magical enchantment. They spoke to her. Talked with her. Plotted with her. Shared breakfasts and luncheons with her. Decided the fate of nation states under the Empire with her. The triple shock of heresy, betrayal, and murder before their eyes was too much. The blood pattering to the floor from her chair was too much.

"You heard me. Take your seats." The Grand Cardinal commanded sternly. A thousand questions demands, and shrieks of outrage and horror bubbled on everyone's lips, threatening to erupt and throw the room into chaos.

Katarina closed her eyes. I can help. How should I?

You should know what must be done. You have been given the Mandate of Command, after all.

She reaffirmed her grip on the ancient sword at her waist.

"Listen to the Grand Cardinal, and obey." She commanded.

Yuriko primly lowered herself to her seat, which had until a moment ago been beside Constances', and then snapped an angry look at the Grand Cardinal. The others returned to their seats slowly. Their eyes rolled with shock and horror, but they obeyed.

"The sooner you return to your seats, ladies, the sooner we can get this cleared up." Francesca barked, and the remaining five Lady Cardinals took their seats.

"As I said," Katarina began, "I did what-"

"I do recall saying this was sealed to the Emerald, Katarina." The Grand Cardinal interrupted her. "You are only allowed to discuss..." She turned her head slightly, indicating the corpse that still leaked, "...with myself. And I refuse discussion." She paused. "There are a great many things we need to learn the answers to. Katarina, you are now the guest of the Book of the Golden Lady. I'm going to remand you to Olivia's custody. For the time being, you're not to leave the grounds of the Alstroemeria. Not until we get satisfactory answers to our questions."

"Lady Cardinal Olivia will see to your schedule." Olivia was a smaller, slender woman with a tumble of black hair to the left who jolted when she was named. Lady Cardinal Olivia raised her eyebrows at that, and leaned forward and appraised Katarina, a smile growing on her shapely mouth. The Grand Cardinal passed a leather file case down the row of Cardinals until it arrived at Olivia's desk.

"As for this... thing..." The Grand Cardinal began shakily, "We need to dispose of it. Immediately. Discreetly, so as not to cause panic." She looked to Katarina.

"What are you still doing here? Go!" She commanded, flinging her hand in dismissal. "Rooms will be prepared for you. The Lady Olivia will show you to them, child." The Grand Lady stated flatly. There was a murmur at this apparent slip in decorum. The Lady Cardinals did not escort, they were escorted.

"I want hers." Katarina immediately replied, pointing to the slumped-over corpse everyone was purposefully ignoring. "In addition to being a Witch Hunter, I am also an Inquisitor. Give me her rooms."

There was a long shocked silence where the remaining members of the Book of the Golden Lady chewed over the unbelievable demand. The apartments of A Lady Cardinal? The apartments of that... that thing? Who in their right mind would dare request- It was inconceivable.

"Fine." The Grand Cardinal spat tersely. "Leave. You are dismissed."

Olivia rose from her seat gracefully however, and nodded to the Grand Lady. "By your leave, Your Grace." The Grand Lady nodded back, and The Lady Olivia walked gracefully down the steps from the grand seats and approached Katarina.