34-Mark of Heretic
I followed her as she exited the room. After a short walk, we met with the remaining members. A young man was taking care of his longsword. It was pure white with a golden streak running in the middle. A kite shield with the same material was leaning on a wall. It had a drawing of an armored man fighting against a lion. His armor was also white.
“Too bright.”
I thought to myself. When he saw us he got up.
“Hello, My Lady. How can I help you?”
He was taller than me, a trend I was getting sick of. He had messy golden hair with blue eyes. He was handsome, but not my type though.
“You can relax, Percavel. I am just here to introduce you to my squire.”
“Hello, my name is Poyraz.”
I offered him my hand. I half expected him to leave me hanging but he grabbed my hand with both of his.
“Nice to meet you! To be the squire of Blanche Silverfox! You must be really skilled!”
He shook my hand so hard that I thought my shoulder was going to come off.
“I was just lucky to experience her kindness.”
“Haha! They say luck is the excuse for the humble. I will be looking forward to seeing your skills tomorrow!”
…
A golden retriever? He looked so excited and so earnestly so.
“Or maybe we can even spar! I really would like to have the chance to improve myself!”
“Sir Percavel, please calm down. Don’t you want to preserve your energy for tomorrow?”
An old woman who walked by leaning on her cane came towards us. She wore modest clothes similar to nuns. They were black and made out of simple fabric. The only fancy thing on her was a necklace. Its chain was made out of silver and it ended with a golden symbol.
“Poyraz, this is Madam Agatha. She is a priestess of Anshar.”
“Hello, young one. May the light of Anshar be with you.”
I bowed to her.
“Come on Madam Agatha! You can just heal us back to full!”
The knight in front of me jumped with excitement. With a speed I didn’t expect of her, Agatha slammed her cane to his head. Knight also must also not have expected that since he stumbled back while holding his head.
“Oww!”
“Using the power of Anshar to vain is a sin. Save your strength for the battlefield.”
“I thought violence was also a sin!”
“It is not a sin for a priestess to discipline the younger generation.”
She turned to me and opened her mouth to say something but stopped. She looked at me carefully. She slowly walked towards me. Her necklace shone with a golden light as she got closer.
“You… Who do you serve?”
The light coming from her necklace caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. It wasn’t exactly an unpleasant feeling but she suddenly got close, too close.
“I am serving Blanche Silverfox if that’s what you mean.”
“No…”
“Are you okay Madam?”
Knight asked. Rather than answering him she got even closer and lifted my shirt. I looked at Blanche to help me or tell me what was happening. She looked even more confused than me.
“Undress.”
…
“I am sorry, what? This is sexual assault, please let my shirt go.”
“The energy you carry… Is different. You smell like one of those heretic demons.”
I grabbed her hand and freed myself. It was a little more forceful than what I wanted but I couldn’t be blamed. If someone just came to you and ordered you to undress, you would be forceful too.
“Madam Agatha. If you have a problem with my squire, you should come to me. You can’t just order him to undress.”
I took several steps back as Blanche got between us. Knight just looked at what was happening with a confused expression on his face.
“Smell…”
I thought to myself.
“I understand why you have her smell.”
That’s what Wolf King told me before. And now, the topic of smell came up again. Seeing Blanche covering for me, Agatha folded.
“Your squire carries the smell of a heretic demon. You should look for the mark of a heretic on his body.”
I smelled myself.
“Hmmm. I thought I cleaned my body well. Do I smell bad?”
I turned around to both the knight and Blanche. Making light of the situation seemed viable.
“Or perhaps you want to check me out?”
I winked at her. She seemed to be really offended by that.
“How dare you?”
“I should be asking the same.”
I crossed my arms.
“You can’t just come here, call me a heretic and order me to undress. I work direct orders under Blanche Silverfox. I hope you realize that accusing me of something means you also attack her.”
I dramatized the situation as much as I could. I even dragged Blanche into it. From the time I spent with her, I knew that she was really prideful. If she also saw this as an attack on her pride she would take my side. She looked down on Agatha. Hah, the plan succeeded.
“I am sure you have your own reason for that but Poyraz is right Madam Agatha. If you suspect him of something you should come to me first.”
Agatha gritted her teeth hearing Blanche’s words.
“Maybe I was wrong in my approach. But! You should check his body for markings! He could be carrying marks of a heretic!”
“What even is mark of a heretic?”
I retreated back to Percavel and asked him.
“They are the marks that foreign gods give their followers. It is supposed to boost their abilities from what I heard.”
He whispered. His voice was low. He didn’t want her to him. I think.
“Foreign gods? There is no thing as foreign gods! Only true gods are Archons of Antion! There are just heretic demons!”
Percavel gave me the universal look of “I fucked up!”
“I’ll check on him privately. You can be sure of that. Come on Poyraz. I still have things to talk about.”
Blanche grabbed my hand and speed walked out of there. Percavel looked at me and Agatha. He gave a silent scream for help but I could just give him an apologetic smile as Blanche dragged me away.