Chương 167: 158. Clementus

We all stood in place, confused, as thoughts raced through my head. Could that be the skinwalker? This and the rooster's crow—they should be connected. A sign of betrayal. Judging by the timing she described, the crow would be around half an hour after the disappearance, so it was hard to judge. But I was pretty sure some part of this was the skinwalker's doing. I'd played my card with the council, and now it made a move of its own.

"And you?" Jean asked Leo.

"We found the safe spot. It was the market that got us. The place looked fine, and the stalls were filled with food. But the moment one of us touched it, the…

'owners' came out of nowhere."

"Attacked?" Elissa asked, but Leo shook his head.

"Not at first. They just swarmed us—shouting prices, begging, threatening. We formed the perimeter and moved away, but then I noticed Zenon was missing, still in the crowd, with his throat cut. Once the blood hit the people, they went feral and tried to kill us."

"Shit," I swore under my breath—another disappearance without any explanation. Those were getting on my nerves. We all discussed the rest. I informed them about our spot, the weapons, and about the blacksmith's basement—there was a good chance it could be a temporary safe spot after we dealt with the danger. The church found one, too, and the nobles also found a safe location to the north. So we had three options: north, northwest, and southwest to the blacksmith.

The creature should go northwest, but we were still away from the research center. We could easily cut north after. For now, the directions weren't that crucial. We all shared our information, then decided to take a break to clean our wounds and pass the weapons around. We would hold a vote on where to go next once everyone had had a bit of rest, especially since the church group needed to heal. Luna got called to them. But she wasn't the only one who got a call from the church.

"Clementus would like to talk with you," Nathan said as he approached me.

"And only you," he added, looking behind my back.

"Where?" I asked.

"On the first floor, where our wounded are." I raised my eyebrows at that. He looked nervous and fidgety as he spoke.

"Helga and I will escort you. Don't worry—no leaving with anyone alone." I saw that my friends were looking in my direction. I lifted my hand to calm them and nodded at Nathan to lead the way. We went down, and I could see that on the lower level, where the half-renovated room was, a few of the church people lay. But to my surprise, Nathan pointed me to the basement.

"Your death would be hard to explain," he said, seeing the look on my face.

"Someone handed you a script to repeat?"

"Yes." I raised my eyebrows at his quick confirmation but then looked down. I could see Helga and one of the four paladins there. I doubted they would try anything now, this close to others, and the whole secrecy was making me curious, especially with the paladin down there. He did walk behind Clementus when possible, but when the Miracle-Bringers attacked, I was pretty sure I saw him go for Leo first. I raised my magic and primed for a fight before slowly making my way downstairs.

In the dim room, I could see a rather strange scene. Helga and the paladin stood to the sides of Clementus. And it was the man himself who weirded me out. He'd changed—not his clothes or anything like that. There was no obvious difference at first glance—yet I could swear I was looking at a different person.

"Good to see you, Samuel. A pleasure to finally talk… face to face," he said, enunciating the last part. His gaze was sharp, the previous dullness entirely gone. His posture had also changed, becoming straighter and firmer.

"Well, hello," I said, smiling lightly.

"That's quite a change. You had me fooled." The man smiled at my words.

"Why, thank you. I'm proud of my skills."

"So why reveal them to me?"

"You're investigating the skinwalker, right?"

"Aren't we all?"

"Exactly," he said, opening his arms to the sides, "and I believe we could help one another."

"I'm all ears," I said and, looking at a desk, leaned on it. The pope also took a more comfortable position, while the three people at his sides remained standing at attention.

"What do you think about Leo?" Clementus asked, lightly tilting his head.

"I think he's one of the most horrible creatures I know of—a politician." He chuckled.

"That he is. But he's much more: an ambitious politician—and that's the problem."

"I don't see how that's my problem, though."

"Aren't you concerned with the mortal church's influence?" I nodded lightly. He'd got me there. Even Q'Shar had to include them in the deal. Given their political influence, it was impossible not to.

"They embed themselves in the governments of many a nation. Their influence has grown way past what you think."

"They even managed to put a puppet in place as the real pope," I said, giving the man a toothy grin.

"Yes—and let's hope they keep thinking that. I knew they wanted a fool as the magic world's leader, and so I played one. But make no mistake, Mr. Alhazred—just because I fooled them doesn't diminish their strength. A strength that should lie in the hands of mages."

"We agree there."

"So I propose a deal. I imagine you have some plans for this place. The church has them, too, but they have you outclassed in the intelligence department."

"Leo knows where he wants to go," I said.

"Yes. And I know that too and am willing to share."

"In exchange for?"

"In exchange for a small push toward weakening Leo's position and, if a chance presents itself… helping retrieve something for me." I stood there looking at him with narrowed eyes before snapping my fingers and pointing at the man.

"You killed Zenon," I said.

"Yes," he confirmed without an ounce of hesitation, catching me off guard.

"Nice," I said.

"But I don't understand—you're betting quite a lot on the idea that I'm not only going to help you, but also that I'm not the monster in disguise."

"Oh, we have assurance on the second part," he said, nodding at the paladin. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The man raised his hand and pulled at his face. To my surprise, it came off—a thin film covering his features slowly slipped, and underneath I could see the painted face of the very same jester who gave the opening speech at the sabbath.

"We had an eye on you," said the pope with a light smile.

"Looking at me when I sleep? Wondering whether to slit my throat while I was down?"

"Hehehe." The man let out a clear, light laugh.

"Very sliceable throat you have."

"Know the feeling."

"Hehe."

"Hehe." We both chuckled. The jester seemed like a decent guy.

"Aaaanyway," Clementus cut in, slightly weirded out.

"I had my advisor try to make a deal with you in secret after we got here, but he couldn't wake you, so he ended up looking over you for a few hours. I waited for an opportunity to talk in private. For now, Leo was informed that I was moved to the basement so that no one else would see I had a 'panic attack.' Still watched over by his faithful paladin. After a while, Nathan panicked and, not knowing what to do, brought the only powerful mind-mage he knew."

"And here I am."

"And here you are." I looked over the three people next to the pope. Helga was the same unreadable, calm statue. Nathan had lost his fidgety demeanor from before and now stood calmly next to Helga. The jester was the closest to the pope, a wide, simple smile plastered on his face, although his eyes were dark and serious.

"Why are you so sure I'll help you?" Clementus approached me before looking into my eyes.

"I think you and I are similar in a way. We were both raised on tales of what mages are capable of—on stories of the world of old. Like you and your father, I was raised by my mother, a nun blessed with visions from God. She told me of the possibility within us. A possibility I would very much like to see fulfilled. And I think, much like me, you don't want to see that power squashed under the boot of politics and greed." I stood there silent—not confirming, but also not disagreeing.

"I propose this: I'll tell you what the church knows and what I know. I'll tell you where Leo is leading us, and in turn, I would appreciate it if your investigation ever needs something dangerous—maybe someone needs to be sacrificed or, well… accidents happen in a place like this—I would appreciate it if those incidents happened to Leo's people. Mainly the paladin who's always with him and the two men from the Riswalt faction who are on the council. And if Leo's goal didn't succeed, well…"

I thought hard about the proposition, but it was a good one. I could then get the intel on the rest of the people here from the cats, excluding the bald rat. Slowly, I extended my hand, and Clementus took it and shook it, holding my gaze.

"So—the info on the church?" I asked immediately once our hands separated.

"Leo is after blood."

"A specific one, I imagine." Clementus nodded in confirmation.

"Do you know who Elizabeth is?" I frowned, sorting through my knowledge of biblical and historical figures. It took me a few seconds, but I finally arrived at a possible answer.

"Saint Mary's cousin?" I asked, uncertain.

"Yes. Daughter of Aaron, wife to Zechariah. Not mentioned much in the Bible. I'm surprised you know of her."

"We both received a classical education from our parents," I replied.

"Much like Saint Mary, she was blessed with God's favor, tracing her lineage to King David. Her blood, given in a ritual, was a relic of the ancient church, used to consecrate the most powerful altars. And we lost a lot of our altars during the war, while the main one…" He let his words hang in the air, his eyes drifting in the direction where the spire in the city center would be.

"Well, the main one is out of our reach. But one of the churches holding a vial of her blood was built within this city, near the mansions."

"Leo wants to go after that blood."

"Yes. And he can't get to it," Clementus said with a heavy voice.

"He represents the mortal world and lacks magical power, but his grasp over the mundane church is very strong. He lacks power within the arcane side—a power he initially didn't care for aside from paladins for protection—and a power he now desperately needs. The remaining cardinals don't trust him. They treat him as an outsider. But we lack powerful altars. If he were able to consecrate a new main one for the church, his grasp over the arcane part would grow even beyond mine."

"That quickly? From an outsider to a leader because of one altar?" I asked skeptically.

"It's not just that. The attack was a blow to our position. Once we are out of here, there will be a need for cleansings within the church, not to mention someone will have to take the fall, someone high up. If he makes it out with that blood..."

"He might use you as the scapegoat," I finished.

"Yes," Clementus confirmed before giving me a smile.

"And vice versa." I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Well, if we actually go there… But I'm mainly concerned with us leaving in one piece and him not getting his way."

"So that's why he overreacted when I pulled out the notebook."

"Yes. The previous expedition had the same main goal. If you figured it out…"

"Is it possible he has the key on him?" Clementus hesitated but finally shook his head.

"No… He's no fighter—but he is an opportunist—I doubt he would risk that much, but if we are close to the place…"

"Right. So how did George get to the key?"

"He was close to Leo—very close. They worked together to get him into the arcane faction of the church. I imagine Leo gave up his key to George of his own accord, most likely due to false intel—Leo spent a lot of time in libraries after finding out magic was making a return. I bet you he stumbled upon a document about an artifact near the gate that required the proper key to open. The key Leo had was the pope's, the most powerful one of all those created.

I believe Leo was after something that required it, and he switched willingly, letting George use the opportunity to fetch the artifact for him. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if hiding behind the gate was picked as the best option for that reason."

"And when he realized he was duped, he also stopped trusting his own intel. That's why the expeditions. That's why we went after the druids—he thinks what he knows might be another trap."

"Yes." But there was still one more issue I had with all of this, and that was why all of us were needed here—why do this that way? Why the whole attack, playing their cards like that—it seemed excessive. Unless…

"Are there other keys on you?"

"I'm not holding—""No, I mean other insignia that open something. It would be something only you can use, and no skinwalker or switched pope could." Clementus's eyes wandered to the silver crosier.

"Yes. This isn't only to control the bell in the hall. It can open doors to all church facilities—at least those still using arcane locks."

"Like the ones here."

"Like the ones here." The research center would be a church facility. That's how the skinwalker would get in. That's why they needed the pope here—and with an entire protection detail. Although there was another thing I didn't get: they would need the actual pope, so why allow paladins to go around with the mundane one? They protected Clementus, too, but their priorities were divided. If they could get a skinwalker in, then I'd imagine they could get some traitors in. A skinwalker was a strange choice.

The Miracle-Bringers have been around since the ancient era and have managed to infiltrate my family—traitors my father killed. But the church? Would the church, which had lost much magical knowledge, be a problem?

"Why couldn't they get someone among your people? Why use a skinwalker? I imagine those aren't easy to create or train." Clementus nodded as if it was obvious.

"The vows. Any of the cardinals or the paladins protecting the pope need to make vows in front of the 'spare' main altar. Those would be hard to break." I raised my eyebrow at his words.

"You swear to do the best for the church and not betray or work for outside influences. But do you think cardinals would give the pope absolute loyalty? If you think working with the mortal pope is the best for the church, then so be it—but serving other gods, other factions? Not likely." The pope sighed deeply.

"They can be circumnavigated, though. Had we a proper powerful altar, the skinwalker trick wouldn't work, but all we have is a spare… barely enough power to swear in the cardinals and the paladins. But with a stronger one…"

"So they switched George with a skinwalker, gave Leo the intel needed, and put you here with every component needed," I said, ignoring his last sales pitch about the altar.

"Needed for what?" Clementus asked as I bit my tongue. After a second of consideration, I opened my mouth once again.

"To get to the old research center. And to retrieve the plague of living death." The people standing around looked at me with expressions frozen in disbelief.

"What for?" Helga boomed from the side.

"Fuck if I know," I shrugged. I had no idea, but whatever it was, it wasn't anything good. Afterward, we talked over more details, and I got a list of possible safe spots—assuming none of them were traps for the pope—and then I went back. As I turned around on the stairs, I noticed Clementus change. He slouched, his eyes grew dull, and then his face started turning red, his breath quickening, like he was right after a panic attack. My eyebrows shot up at the show.

I remembered reading that the first Clementus, who led the church during the war, was also a great manipulator. I chuckled at the thought.

"Well, you just might grow into that name," I said before leaving. Now, knowing the safe spots and the direction we were headed, as well as that the pope was needed, my suspect list grew slightly shorter. And that was not the end of it. Now, having an in with the church, it was time to get information from the cats. And I imagined I might have more concrete suspects by the time that talk was over. Happy, I went out of the basement only to hear another commotion.

But this time I didn't have to join the rest to know what it was about. The moment I went onto the first floor, I could see my own breath, a white cloud forming in front of me as the cold pouring in through the windows and doors reached my skin. And that wasn't all—the place was visibly darker, as if the night was coming.