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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 4-4, En Passant

Never before had Umbrto felt any reason to question the Church but, as he stood against his brethren, he had to wonder how right it was for so many armed men to be calling for the death of a defenseless woman and her small kit. The Wolverine tightened his grip on his great sword as he prayed to God for guidance; it was a situation in which he never expected to find himself, and he couldn't come up with a solution on his own.

The answer, as it happened, came from an unlikely source as the swordsman behind him and to the right spoke up, "I find it very interesting that the Church sought to protect her, and yet, we have already had multiple attempts on her life by an organization that is known to have hidden elements among the Church. One, therefore, may be left to wonder whose side it is you are truly on."

Despite Umberto's general distrust of the Human, it suddenly struck the Templar that such a thing made far too much sense to be entirely insane; even if the Church WAS incorruptible, was it not possible that the mortal elements could be flawed? What IF the men before him were not doing God's work but, instead, were doing the work of the Mechanist people of which Sandoval had spoken?

There was one certain way to find out, and the Templar addressed the armed men before him, "Before I do anything, I want to see your paws."

The Retriever at the front held up both of his gauntleted paws and, slowly, one after the other, removed his armor, revealing the calloused, battle-worn digits of a warrior. The men behind the Dog glanced to one another, apparently confused but, once their speaker did so, they quickly followed suit. Umberto searched quickly but critically at every finger on every paw, hand, and talon-- he began to lose hope when he realized one of the men in the column was a Dragon... and, as the Church had always noted, 'Without reproach beith Dragons in service to the Lord'. Letting out a breath, the Wolverine swallowed his hesitance and pressed his luck, "which one of you wears a gear on a ring?"

The Retriever before him cocked his head to the side, a displeased lowering of his brow obvious, "What is this about, Brother? You have seen our orders and you understand what must be done. Stand aside so we may end this dirty business-- you only draw out the unpleasantness of the culling with this delay."

Umberto shook his head, "This is wrong. Ms. Evelyn has done nothing--"

"She has partaken of an incestuous relationship resulting in the creation of the abomination she now holds in her arms. THAT is what she has done."

The Wolverine had to bury his anger at the Dog's obvious suggestion that she had a choice in the matter; Umberto knew the true story, even if the man before him did not, and he was not about to let it go unspoken, "I was not her choosing."

The Retriever let out a breath, shaking his head, "Be that as it may, the Church has given its order, Sir Umberto... now stand aside."

The Templar silently wished damnation upon the human for instilling such doubt into him, "Prove to me you're worth obeying or I shall not back down."

This time the Dog's expression went straight past displeased and right into full-on anger, "You have the holy edict in your paws. What more could you want?"

Umberto's head slowly lowered in response to the reproach as he close his eyes. He had always thought that the way of the Church was clear to all good men. If that was true, then how could following its edicts lead to such hesitation? "I don't know."

The Retriever kicked his horse forward, coming to stop directly in front of the Wolverine, "You are not tasked with carrying out the sentence yourself, Sir Umberto, but the will of the Church will not be denied. Now... would you rather lay down your weapon, or would you p--" the golden furred Templar did not get a chance to offer an alternative; the front of his head exploded outward and, a half-second later, an incredibly loud boom echoed across the landscape and the man's body fell out of its saddle.

It wasn't until another Templar's head popped in its helmet, followed again by the sound of rolling thunder that the Wolverine realized that they were under attack. He turned immediately back to the Ermine woman, still seated in her saddle behind him, "Get down!"

Snapped out of the shock that had apparently overtaken her, Evelyn did as he commanded, and quickly slid off her saddle, falling to the ground with her son still in her arms. He dismounted as well, letting his sword drop so he could run to her and pull her into a ditch, hunkering down beside the road. The woman lay down beside him, body surrounding her son. Her voice came meekly from the ball, "What is it?"

Umberto peeked slowly up from under cover, trying to see exactly what was going on. Unable to discover from where the church's men were being attacked, all he could do was lower his head back to safety. "We're under attack."

Sandoval, who came sliding in beside them, did not miss a beat, "We, or they?" and then paused, "Or do you mean you are already thinking in terms of you and us?" The Human's judgmental tone was not without reason, and the Wolverine, unable to deny the accusation, felt the reproach acutely and painfully.

It wasn't so much an excuse that left his muzzle as it was an explanation, "They had a writ stamped by the BISHOP."

He felt all the worse when Evelyn came to his defense, "He wouldn't have let them, Mr. DeLaRocha. Sir Umberto is a good man."

The Human shook his head, "Sadly, my lady, I would assume in a bid for loyalty between you or the Church, you would be found in a distant second."

The Wolverine couldn't suppress a growl, "Is there nothing you hold sacred to, Sandoval DeLaRocha? Is there no higher calling or greater organization than yourself?"

The swordsman's response was simple and to the point. Though it did not answer the Wolverine's question, it was an eloquent counter, "I could not help but notice that you did not disagree with my statement, my friend."

Evelyn, surprisingly, did not seem to care, and, instead, she insisted on her own point of view, "Quiet. Both of you... do you hear that?"

Umberto cocked his ears, listening for something... anything... but it was Sandoval who was the first to speak, "The gunfire has stopped."

The Wolverine was immediately incredulous, "Gunfire? Do you have any idea how many men they would need to have had to shoot THAT many times?"

Sandoval, as usual, was smug in his assessment, "Do you know of any other weapon that could pierce a man's skull and make such a sound doing it?"

The Templar scowled, "We would have seen riflemen."

The Human shrugged casually, "The best guns have quite a range on them. They could have fired from the ridge to the west-- it has a nice collection of bushes for cover."

Umberto was willing to challenge the case but he paused in his argument, suddenly realizing something: there had been fourteen men in the Church's sortie... and there had been fourteen retorts that, despite Umberto's desire to argue, did sound a lot like the bark of a firearm. This, however, granted him an even better objection, "No matter how good the rifleman, you don't fire fourteen times and get fourteen hits. ESPECIALLY not from THAT range, and DEFINATELY not with targets as small as a head."

A new voice interrupted them, "Heads really aren't that small of a target... especially when you consider how inflated the heads of most Templars are."

The matter-of-fact bluntness gave the Wolverine a moment's pause, and he slowly turned his gaze to the top of the berm behind which they had been hiding. The human standing there wore clothing that was meticulously dyed in a wavy pattern in colors that mimicked the local tall grasses; he had a pair of what looked like the kind of goggles he'd seen University builders wearing while working with metal. More importantly, he had a ring on one hand that openly displayed a cog-like symbol.

What really caught Umbertos' attention, however, was what the man held in his hands: it was the largest, most complicated rifle he had ever seen. The device was complete with two different glass lenses situated where the lining sights were normally found. The human smiled down at him, "It's a good thing you were PROTECTING the lady." and, with that, the man quickly brought the butt of his weapon down on the Wolverine's head... and everything went black.

* * * * * *

Umberto felt dizzy and sick to his stomach as he felt the rhythmic stepping of a horse beneath him; it took a moment before he realized that he was mounted in a saddle. A few seconds later from behind him, he heard Sandoval's voice, "Well... it appears he is finally coming around, my lady."

"Wha?" It was hardly an eloquent comment and, in any other situation, the Wolverine would have been immediately embarrassed that such a blunt sound came from him but, as he opened one eye then the other, he realized that it was probably the best he could have done under the circumstances. He was indeed on a horse, and someone was mounted just aft of him. The rider behind the Templar, Sandoval, had Umberto in his arms to keep him from falling off, and was holding the reins in either hand, "You have been unconscious for quite some time, my friend... but it is good you have a thick skull, or perhaps I think you never would have awakened from such a blow."

Everything in his head still felt like it was surrounded by cotton. He glanced left and right, trying to put his concern to rest, "Miss... Evelyn?"

"I am here, Sir Umberto." she called from behind. The Wolverine turned to look, but a sudden surge of vertigo almost made him fall off the horse-- he would have, had Sandoval not been there to steady him.

The Human began to relate what happened after the blackness, "Once you fell, the man said he was not inclined to kill you as you obviously did not harm to come to the lady. He said that he was sent to see to it that she was brought safely to Newport."

"I already told them I have a guard." The Ermine woman spoke up from behind them from her own horse, which led the party's two riderless ones.

Sandoval nodded, "Indeed... and I informed him quite courteously that I would rather die before any Mechanist laid a hand on her."

"He had one of the rings." Evelyn added.

The human slowed their horse, "Quite so."

Feeling a little more clear headed, Umberto tested talking again, and found it somewhat less painful, "What did you do?"

Evelyn answered for him, "Mr. DeLaRocha challenged him to a duel."

The Human laughed, "Inded I did... after smearing this on my blade." The swordsman showed Umberto a small glass container that held what appeared to be a few remaining drops of some semi-translucent, cloudy liquid.

The Templar was taken aback. Did Sandoval just admit to using poison? "You put it on your sword while he could watch you doing it?"

The swordsman nodded gravely, sliding the empty vial back into his belt pouch, "A common enough liquid, though rarely used for combat. It is one of the calling cards of the famed Four Flasks guild from Ilyse... they call it Hag's Kiss."

Umberto flicked an ear, "The Four Flasks guild are cooks... and Hag's Kiss is just another name for--"

The human smirked, "Lemon Juice... indeed. I know this, and apparently you know this as well, but when our friend from The Mechanists felt the sting of even the smallest prick from my blade, well... the first thing that concerned him was the antidote."

The Templar took the reins out of Sandoval's hands and gave them a gentle tug, bringing the horse to a stop. He glanced back at the swordsman, "He REALLY thought he'd been poisoned? What did you tell him?"

Sandoval slid effortlessly off the steed, "The truth-- the only way to temper the effects of Hag's Kiss was with a lot of sugar." and, at that, the human walked back to another horse, mounted it, and gave a light flick of the reins.

Evelyn's horse had stopped right beside Umberto's, and she finally spoke up, "From there the fighting stopped. Mr. DeLaRocha told the man that there was an inn three miles behind us, and wished him luck."

The Wolverine flicked an ear, looking to the Human, who was already trotting passed, "You are unorthodox, disrespectful of order, of questionable intent, and prone to dancing around the truth..."

The Human glanced to him, one eyebrow raised, "It sounds as though there is still a 'but' to be said."

Umberto cleared his throat, "But those are all mantles that you seemingly wear very well." and he held out a paw to the swordsman.

Sandoval accepted it and placed his hand in the grasp, "And I thank you for those... ehm... shall we say... kind words? Although I hate to say, you did fail to mention one other very important trait."

"What's that?'

Sandoval turned and offered a wink to Evelyn, "Devilishly handsome."

Umberto let go of the Human's hand and scowled-- the reaction only made the swordsman's good-humored grin widen. Considering the fact that Sandoval had done so much for them, the Templar decided to let it go... this time.