'I've seen this place before in my vision! That little girl, this was the place she was trying to escape and pleaded with me to help her. So she really was the princess of the Sorrow Kingdom. Is she even alive now? I must go back and try to see her in the visions.'
"Young priest? Priest! Wake up!"
Sylvester shook his head and came back to his senses. "Ah, forgive me, your grace. I merely fell into some deep thoughts. We should be arriving now."
Sylvester noticed the crowds were getting less on the city's wide roads, and more soldiers were appearing. The streets were cleaner, and the giant castle was very close, just behind the last wall from where the bridge on the lava moat was to be crossed.
"Halt! State your identity!"
The guards at the gates were especially armed with neat and clean armour. Their swords were already unsheathed, and their visors were down. There were four with swords, four with spears, and two were horse riders.
The Archbishop took out something that looked like a stone medallion. It was black and had strange silver engravings on it.
"May the sorrow fade, and the traitors embrace the blade." Archbishop Nelson said in a low voice.
Reacting to the words, the guard took the black medallion and put it on another medallion that he owned. Instantly, a spark of flash came when the two medallions touched, and a humming sound came.
"Welcome back, Archbishop." The guard respectfully returned the medallion and signalled his men to drop the drawbridge.
Sylvester silently followed the old man's lead since he knew that the Archbishop had lived and fought for the Sorrow Kingdom for years. He was bound to have various connections in all the high places and, above all, be a part of a few secret orders. The best course of action was to observe and join in the game, so he could later become the master of the same play.
Thud!
The drawbridge itself was made of volcano stone. It was heavy and took over a hundred iron chains to pull and drop the bridge. On top of that, even on the other side of the drawbridge, there was a security checkpoint.
"Let's move." The Archbishop pointed ahead.
Sylvester carefully steered the carriage onto the thick stone road and began to move. However, the moment they touched the bridge, they felt the heat emanating from underneath. Surrounding the castle was a moat filled not with water but with molten lava that spewed forth from deep within the earth. The lava glowed an eerie orange-red, casting a sinister light upon the castle's walls and towers.
Soon, the castle also came into view, the famed Castle Ashstone, entirely black, so much so that it shined during the day and the night. Sadly, it was in ruins now.
"This is..." Sylvester lacked words to describe the behemoth in front of them.
The castle stood tall and ominous, looming over the surrounding landscape with its dark, foreboding presence. Built entirely of black stone, the castle was massive in size and was dotted with numerous towers that reached up into the sky like jagged teeth. The castle's walls were impossibly thick and impenetrable, radiating a palpable sense of malevolence.
"Marvellous, isn't it? It used to be even more majestic when the King lived here." the Archbishop spoke of the old days. "Back in those days, the security was not as strict, and the city was always bustling, despite the poor status of the Kingdom. The people were kind, as they all knew each other's hardships. Food was hard to come by, but people managed and stayed happy with the name of the Lord always on their lips."
Sylvester merely nodded the entire way as they went further into the castle. They crossed the moat, and the guards there didn't stop them again. So they went directly to the castle's main entrance.
Sadly, the many walls and locations were in ruins, and men were at work trying to fix them. As majestic as the castle looked from a distance, it was ugly from close. The dirt was all over the ground, and the horse shit covered the roads. The workers were fixing the castle walls in dirty, patched clothes, and there was no sense of order anymore.
Eventually, Sylvester stopped the carriage at the gates of the Castle, where Sir Dolorem and Bishop Lazark were already waiting for them on their horses.
"Priest Johnathan, you may visit the monastery at the back of the castle while I meet the nobles gathered inside. They might doubt you since you are a new face here, so please don't mind this."
"Understood, your grace." Sylvester smelled no lies from the man, so he saluted and moved the carriage.
Even the monastery was made of volcano stones, so it was also black. But the windows were made of colourful stained glass, so there was some strange beauty to it.
Sylvester led inside first, with Sir Dolorem and Bishop Lazark behind him. The monastery was a giant hall with beautiful carvings and paintings inside. It was made of white marble, so the sense of gloom was absent.
However, he had another reason for willingly entering the monastery and not trying to spy on the Archbishop.
'Ah, there she is.'
Sylvester looked back. "Go to the gates outside and keep an eye. If someone comes, warn me."
"Understood, Priest." Sir Dolorem and Bishop Lazark asked no questions and stood guard.
Meanwhile, Sylvester walked towards a woman in pale yellow nun robes, with a dagger on one side of the waist and a book on the other. She was old, as evident by her arched back and facial wrinkles. But her blue eyes seemed more profound than anything.
She was cleaning the end part of the monastery where the giant symbol of the church was kept. So he walked beside her and spoke cryptically. "Only one way to defeat the darkness."
The woman, without even looking, replied. "Light of the Lord you must harness."
Sylvester smiled, took a small bronze coin from his pocket, and placed it beside the woman. "May the holy light enlighten us, respected mother."
The woman took the coin, looked at it carefully, and then gave a different coin back to Sylvester. She smiled while doing so and finally looked at Sylvester's face. "It's an honour to be meeting you, my lord."
Sylvester kept the coin and relaxedly sat down on the floor beside her. "The honour is all mine, mother Thena. But first, please tell me about yourself. How are you? Do you eat well? Do you get to have some rest? Is anyone troubling you?"
The old woman's eyes welled up a little, and she immediately went for the hug. She embraced Sylvester in a motherly hug and caressed the back of his head, whispering in his ears. "After meeting you, all hardships were worth you, my lord. You are, as they say -- a son to us mothers sworn to be childless. Are you hungry? The journey must have been tiring. Come with me. I will cook something for you."
Sylvester felt the genuine feelings of the woman. Love, excitement, some sadness, and a lot of worship. It was all Sylvester ever wanted from his secret spy network of Bright Mothers. All he gave them was love as a son, and in return, they also showered him with love. He was, after all, the only man they could be so close to without worrying about any unholy consequences. In Bright Mothers' eyes, Sylvester was too holy to hold any impure thoughts -- he was perfection.
Sylvester held the old woman's palms on his own and used some healing magic, as her hands appeared to have skin damage. "I am fine, mother. I am sent by his Holiness to judge the heathens of the Sorrow Kingdom. But, to relieve the pain of the poor, I need money. For that, I need information about the wealth numbers and locations of all those still rich that reside in this kingdom."
Thena bobbed her head vigorously and started telling him everything she knew. "There are still a few noble lords in the Sorrow Kingdom. They are the ones who switched to the Patch's side before or after the fall of the royal family. They are no less than the heathens of the Patch, my lord. In total, fifteen such noble families are left, and their names are House Larkaster, House Harmund, House Marla..."
She gave the names of all the houses she knew about. On top of that, there was something more she could provide.
"My lord, end these heathen families, for they have brought nothing but misery to the innocents. When the King Sorrow was fighting the Patch, these heathens backstabbed him... That poor princess, we don't even know what happened to her... She was so full of life..." She began to tear up a little but held herself strong even then.
Sylvester stood up again. "Mother, can you use your contacts to at least get me the maps of the castles of these families? They have stolen money from the poor. It's time I give that money back."
"Of course, my lord. It will take all but seven days for me to compile everything. We have a few maps in the Royal Castle's library too. I can gather them for you if you wish." She instantly prepared herself to move around, despite her age.
Sylvester didn't like that, so he first handed her a small pouch filled with gold coins. "Use this to escape this region in case of an emergency. All of you are like mothers to me, and even one of you in trouble will bring me nightmares. As for the maps, I will look for them myself. Archbishop Nelson is already inside, meeting with the nobles gathered there."
"What?!" The Bright Mother exclaimed all of a sudden, her face going pale. "Why didn't you stop him?!"
Sylvester rubbed his face in frustration. "Don't tell me... All those nobles are the ones you named."
"Yes! They are gathered here to divide the Kingdom among themselves as Dukes."
Sylvester took a long breath and tried to contemplate his options. The Archbishop was strong, but a single Archwizard could not fight so many nobles who likely had strong subordinates, if not personally strong.
'Of course, my rotten luck will ensure they are strong and too many.'
"Why didn't Archbishop know all this?" Sylvester asked her.
"That I don't know, as all of us clergypeople know what's happening for a month now. Could it be that he..."
She didn't finish her words, but Sylvester knew what they were. 'Is he one of them? A vile man hidden behind a grandfatherly face? But I smelled nothing of that sort from him.'
Knock Knock!
"Priest Johnathan." Sir Dolorem entered the monastery hall with a nobleman in armour behind. "This is the Prima of House Harmund. Archbishop calls us inside."
Sylvester started blinking morse code instantly to speak with Sir Dolorem. At the same time, he talked with the Prima.
"Thank you for coming here to call us, my lord. Let's go in then." Sylvester greeted, all the while smelling an intense scent of fear and hate emanating from the man.
Just then, Sylvester also finished warning Sir Dolorem with the code.
'It's a trap. Prepare for battle. All limits are hereby lifted.'
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