Chương 164: 155. The council

Since there wasn't enough space between the shelves, we formed a 25-person group to walk through the archive. Of the 25, the Church group and my group would go down to the basement to retrieve any older documents. Once everyone was ready to move, we went downstairs. The paladins took the front with the mages behind as we descended, ready for battle. We opened the door at the bottom of the staircase, only to find a normal stone basement filled with boxes containing various documents.

And that was it—no otherworldly creature, no abomination of a burned office lady, nothing. Everyone stood at the bottom, looking around, clearly confused.

"Kinda anticlimactic, huh?" I said, sweeping my gaze over the room.

"Yeah," groaned William. After finally making peace with the fact that not everything here would try to kill us, we started to carry the documents upstairs. It took us around an hour to bring everything up, and looking at the sea of paper in front of us, it was clear we had our work cut out for us. Worse—judging by the constant looks from the popes, the cats, and everyone else "in the know"—there was a discussion coming once we sifted through the pile.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked William as we were leafing through binders.

"What do you mean?"

"About the cats," I said, looking toward Leo, who was also sifting through the administrative documentation.

"We need more information. I have no idea what everyone is planning." The man sighed.

"Who's the biggest problem?" I looked at him like he was speaking gibberish.

"Well, you have your answer," he said. I frowned.

"I don't like the bald rat."

"Good, I don't like him either," the man agreed.

"But he did sit in on the Church councils."

"And he would sell that information to us."

"And he'll do the same if you ever aren't the winning horse." William raised his eyes to me.

"You can always fuck him over after this is done." I met his eyes.

"If I give my word in the clan's name, I will not break it," I barked, to which he smiled.

"You see? You won't backtrack on an official promise, and you don't want to get information about the Church from 'bald rat,' so you either work without it or get the information another way."

"Any ideas?" I asked.

"Aren't you close with Nathan?"

"Close? I saved his ass a few months ago, that's it."

"Then you have a way in."

"He's the bodyguard the big woman took with her. Doubt he'll get me anywhere."

"He can get you to the big woman."

"And?" That gave William pause as he turned to me.

"You don't know who she is?"

"Should I?"

"The God's Fist?" William asked, as if I were supposed to know what he was talking about.

"Oh gods, I should have known. She's one of the best warriors of the Church. And clearly loyal to the pope."

"Yeah—the wrong pope." Will winced at my words.

"True. But it's either that or the bald cat." I sighed and went back to sifting through the documents in silence, my thoughts focused on finding a way to get information within the Church before Leo pulled some stunt that would actually put me in danger. But letting Arash in on Q'Shar's deal was out of the question. I finally decided to take Will's advice and try the Nathan angle, although I doubted anything would come of it. It took us about two hours to leaf through all the documents.

Not much of it was useful—most were administrative papers of the block: taxation, repairs, complaints—everything handled by an office. There were a few interesting finds, though. We identified a few spots worth knowing: two markets within the city, an alchemist's shop, a doctor's office, and a blacksmith. But the biggest find was an administrative map of the city. And the moment I saw it, unfurled by the paladin who got it from the Church's stack of documents, an idea jumped into my head.

"Stop," I shouted at the man, and everyone flinched at my words.

"Don't show the map."

"Why?" the man asked, frowning. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I saw Leo open his mouth to argue something, so I cut in as fast as possible.

"To catch the skinwalker," I said firmly, and continued while I had everyone's attention.

"You might not like me, and that's fine, but so far my guesses were correct, so how about you give me the benefit of the doubt here."

"What I doubt, Mr. Alhazred, is your allegiance," Leo finally chose his words.

"You did spend quite some time as one of the wounded, alone."

"Yes, and you have your own free will to judge my idea after I propose it." People looked at one another, and in the end, the map stayed closed before anyone could get a good look at it. Once all the documents had been sifted through, we began to gear up for a discussion. Everyone gathered back in the main room where we had previously rested.

"Well, everyone," Leo started, "now that we have a clearer vision of the situation we find ourselves in, one thing becomes clear: we need to plan our next steps carefully. We have already suffered casualties, and I imagine at least a few could have been avoided if we had been better prepared. Moreover,"—he looked at me this time—"the incident with the journal clearly shows a need for leadership. We can't be caught in a discussion in the middle of the street like that again." People nodded at that.

"We would also like to demand an explanation about the journal from the Third Chamber's leadership."

"Of course—once you give an explanation about how you knew about this place," I said with raised eyebrows.

"We didn't."

"Sure."

"And unlike you, even if we did, we clearly didn't keep the place to ourselves." I rolled my eyes at the way he twisted the situation, but it seemed to be working, as we were getting some uncomfortable gazes directed our way.

"Sure, I don't mind sharing the journal—that was always our intention—just after we had all the information from it, in case you took the thing and decided to keep some of it to yourself, you know, 'for the greater good of the Church,' as you tend to do." The man gave a thin smile at my words.

"Well then, you won't mind handing it over."

"Of course," I said, and pulled out the journal. I then ignored the pope's outstretched hand and passed the small book to Miss D'Arc, who took it with raised eyebrows. Leo didn't comment, as he slowly—though awkwardly—retracted his hand.

"Happy?" I asked the man.

"Extremely. Now we can all study its contents."

"So what do we do now?" asked the woman, putting down the journal next to her.

"We need to find the next safe spot where the expedition could have stayed," Leo said.

"But before that, there is another matter to discuss. We need leadership." There was slight muttering at his words.

"The incident with the orange light shows we need swift decision-making, so I propose we vote—""Wait," I broke in, ready to move my plan into motion.

"I say we first have the people who get to vote volunteer themselves." People frowned at my words.

"Why wouldn't we all want to vote?" asked one of the D'Arc nobles. I smiled at those words.

"Oh, it's more than that. I say we choose a group that will make the decisions. People who are interested will volunteer. Only they will get to vote, only they will get to decide who goes where, and only they will get to see the map and documents," I said, tipping my head toward the papers. Everyone just seemed more and more confused.

"You think anyone here would give up their right to decide their fate because you ask them to?" D'Arc asked.

"No," I shook my head.

"But… joining the voting group will make you a main suspect for being the skinwalker," I said in a firm voice. Many people's eyes shot open at my words.

"If you don't join, you can't decide where we go and with whom. Any evidence or information must be turned over to the voting group immediately. But in turn, you won't be suspected of being a skinwalker and will be able to choose whether you stay in the safe spot or go out." Now the previously apprehensive looks softened, a bit of longing showing in the eyes—the vision of staying behind was an enticing option for anyone of lower power.

"Why not have only your leaders join, as long as you trust them…" I let my words hang in the air.

"Of course, if you join and there isn't any clear reason for it, that would be suspicious. Why would someone with a good person in charge of their group have the need to check their decisions? Why would someone without any fighting ability want to be on the council if any outing could be deadly for them? Joining the group will make you a prime suspect." I smiled widely and swept my gaze over the people, reading their reactions. I'd made my move.

If the skinwalker were wearing a non-combatant, it would have a hard time joining the council. But most of all, it was after something here. I was sure it was leading us somewhere, so either it would join the council or try to influence one of its members. And that made the number of people I had to watch much, much smaller. People looked around at one another, not sure what to do. Leo looked to the side at Zenon, his eyes narrowed, and they quickly discussed something.

"We agree," he finally said.

"Aren't you the wrong pope to make that decision?" I asked.

"We do agree," Clementus said the moment Leo's eyes turned to him.

"No need for more discord, please," he finished, looking at me. The rest of the people agreed as well, and we moved aside to discuss who would be in the deciding group. From the Third Chamber, I, William, and the warlock by the name of Aron were chosen. From the nobles, D'Arc, two people from the Riswalts—which was interesting, as there were a total of seven of them by now, and the two didn't look like they got along—and another noble I didn't recognize, representing a smaller group.

Among the religious groups were two popes, each with an escort—Leo with a paladin and Clementus with Helga. Leo also roped in Zenon. Aside from that, there was a Buddhist monk and a druid woman representing other groups. And the two cats also joined the voting body to no one's surprise. Once chosen, we moved to a downstairs room—with only the so-called council. Everyone here looked at one another with distrust, as if trying to see underneath each other's skin.

"So, now that all of the usual suspects are here, what do we do—?" Leo started, taking a breath to answer his own question, but got cut off.

"How about introductions first?" Helga said, earning herself a tight smile from Leo. We all introduced ourselves, then moved on to planning, which began with a look at the map. And the moment the map unfurled, I immediately called upon all my mental power to help. It wasn't due to something dangerous on the map. It wasn't a mental attack either. No, it was to school my expression to a normal level of interest in what I was seeing.

I had to make sure with every ounce of my being that I didn't give anything away, but the quickened beating of my heart was hard to control. As soon as my eyes fell on the map, the scattered puzzle pieces snapped into their designated places. The stolen life attuned artifacts, Astrid's vision, the undead-but-not-really servants, and the old journals of my family—all came together into one horrifying picture. I knew what the creature was after.