The pope of death was quite the elusive fellow. Most of the time he even lived within a crypt of some sorts which made it incredibly difficult to get in touch with him. But thanks to Tom´s help and a little bit of persuasion, I could indeed secure a meeting with him … on a cemetery.
The fog was unbearably wet on my skin and the tombstones didn’t help to give me a better vibe. Men clothed in black coats spied on me from afar as I strolled to the centre of all which was a luxurious grave, albeit completely empty.
“I understand, my lord.” A lone man sat in front of it, clearly high on something. After all, he was praying to an empty tombstone. A bit weirded out, but not too much thanks to Lucinda´s and Tom´s behaviour, I crouched down beside him and interlocked my fingers in front of me.
“May the god of death guide us forever.” I stated in an attempt to get on his good side right away. It worked semi good. He wasn’t furious or anything, but he also didn’t seem to take my approach kindly. If anything, he seemed almost disinterested in my faith.
“I have sacrificed a great deal to meet with you.” Yeah … no. He did not. Once again, Lucinda gave all the work to either Tom or me and I could say with a hundred percent certainty that my workload was higher than that of a pope who did have the time to pray in the middle of the night. And yet, I had to play nice.
“You will benefit greatly though. The three criminal gangs want to get rid of the saint.” I stated casually. Even he should be able to discern that this is the truth … after all, every criminal was told that the king and the saint were our enemies.
“How come?” Wasn’t this obvious? The other gangs just couldn’t accept that Lucinda gave out their information without any second thought.
“She gave highly valuable documents she fount at the hideout of the Wolf Street Gang to the king. We are suffering immensely under her … and so are you.” I claimed which was only partly true. The gangs were under high pressure, but the churches themselves didn’t have to fear anything from Lucinda yet.
“This brat dares to challenge the order of things. There was always neutrality amongst the churches but she ruined everything with her pitiful attempts to do good. Only our saviour, the god of death himself can offer true salvation.” They were a death cult! He didn’t even know what really happened to him after death, but he still believed in his god. Strange, especially considering what we were discussing.
“Just out of curiosity, why aren’t you accepting this salvation right now?” Yeah? Why not kill yourself right now to meet your saviour?
“There would be nobody left to preach his word. We strive for a world where everyone can see that death alone is the only way forwards.” And then what? A wave of suicide? Who would benefit from that?
“The saint does stand in your way though. The way things are heading, she is siding with the churches around the church of life. Or have you seen her do things to spread your faith?” I questioned while casually ignoring the torture dungeons we set up, or the trail of blood ‘The Crown’ left behind them.
“What is it that you propose?” Wasn’t that obvious by now? Or did he want me to state it very clearly?
“You torture her until she does whatever you say.” I answered and finally let my hands fall down to my side. This praying pose really wasn’t my thing.
“She is always protected. We also cannot abduct her openly because of the public backlash.” Yeah, he wouldn’t be able to, mostly because we knew of most underground activities at this point. Nobody could abduct her, unless Tom and sadly in extension Lucinda allowed it.
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“Don’t you worry about that. Within the next week, she will head into the far north with nothing but a few guards and … me by her side.” I claimed and smiled cruelly. I had to present myself as someone who wanted the saint dead after all.
“You?” He asked in doubt which was understandable. After all, how could a criminal like me gain access to the inner circle of a ducal house that easily? The answer was fairly easy … Lucinda asked me to do it in a tone that allowed no refusal.
“As her chaperone. I did have to pull some strings even though I am well known for my good behaviour.” I claimed. Truth to be told, I did have all the necessary paperwork which showed that I worked in the east as a tutor for young nobles.
“And then what?” After he captured her, it was obviously time for the real deal. I didn’t know why Lucinda was actually planning on hurting herself that badly, but who was I to stop her from suffering?
“Do whatever you have to … but leave all the others around her alive. ‘The Crown’ still needs them. If you don’t do that … there will be quite a few accidents around you.” I threatened him openly even though I needed his cooperation. But in these circles, it was better to threaten others than to play nicely with them.
“Hmm … and if we have captured her, what then?” He really did want me to say it openly. My guess was that he wanted to use it against me … but he wouldn’t survive long enough to do so.
“Break her? I´m sure you will find a way.” I repeated it for the third time, this time even louder than before.
“Children.” He mentioned which was a valid proposal from his side … but I didn’t want to be skinned alive. And even if I loved to see her a bit desperate, I didn’t want her to lash out at me once this was all over. There was already enough animosity between us after all.
“That my friend will not happen. You will suffer if you attempt to break her spirit with children and I will make sure of it.” He would suffer even more under a certain someone, but I rather presented him with a real threat.
“I see …” He said helplessly which was enough for me. He knew of the risks at that point and I am sure he wouldn’t try make an enemy out of us.
“I will sent you her location via messenger birds. Make sure there are a few following us all the time. And … I want to see her. I need to confirm she isn’t in any state to hurt my group a second time.” I claimed happily. Oh, I would love to see her in such a state, even though I was sure that most of it would be feigned.
“Very well then.” He said, gave me his hand which I promptly took. Our deal was sealed with it. Some say that deals must be beneficial to both but this one was vastly different. ‘The Crown’ wouldn’t be benefiting in any way, while the church of death just dug its own grave and indirectly presented the other churches with a common threat under which they could unify.
Well, it was true that there were other ways to deal with the church issue, but I had to agree that this one was probably the fastest and best one if one wanted to root out all the hidden enemies in one swoop.