Chapter 33: The Unwanted Visitor
The seasons had changed once more from Spring to Summer. Sir Colton had just started his second class of recruits and was managing their training along with managing the lower gate. He was watching the people come and go when he noticed a rather plain-looking older man with white hair but somehow skin that looked too good, too unblemished and was obviously too well fed to be walking in with the group of poor he was surrounded by Sir Colton whistled down to the two guards at the gate and pointed to the older man. A few moments later a third guard was there to escort the older man into Sir Colton's office. The same office a year earlier that he been brought to by Captain Alexander.
The older man smiled as he was brought in not looking anxious in the least. Sir Colton smiled in return and said, "Please, have a seat, your Eminence."
The old man looked surprised, "We've met?"
Sir Colton shook his head and said calmly, "God gives us eyes so that we may see who is in front of us." He poured out a cup of tea for himself and then one of the Cardinal. "I am in a bit of a dilemma, your Eminence. You see, due to certain matters that happened in recent years the Church of the Risen Son is no longer welcome here in the City of Connaissance."
The old man nodded, "I understand my child, it is for that reason I have come. You see, it was the Church's mistake that allowed that girl's family to be murdered and her rightful place as Queen of the Windsor Kingdom to be usurped. I know that it is much too late to say that we are sorry and just put wrongs to right, but I would like it if the Church is not put to the sword because of one man's ambition."
Sir Colton nodded and then said, "You should know that I am Sir Roger Colton, Knight of the Cambrian Order, former leader of Archbishop Josciox's Second Inquisition Force."
The old man looked surprised once again, "My son, why have you not returned home for a hero's welcome?"
Sir Colton smiled at him and said, "Is it not still the Inquistion's policy to retire any knight who is maimed in battle?"
The old man nodded and said, "Of course, we wouldn't expect an incapable man to hold such a post. It wouldn't be fair to the men with the ability behind him."
Sir Colton reached over with his left arm and showed that his other sleeve was empty. "I lost the arm shortly after the battle in which my force was annihilated." He sighed and shook his head, "I met a man shortly after the battle, who pulled me out of the river, a fellow believer like us. I was delirious with fever, my injured arm had become gangrenous. He was forced to take the arm to save my life. For several months he tended my injuries and nursed me back to health. I explained the Church's rules about its knights so he brought me from the Chadtom Empire to the road that runs between the Windsor Kingdom and here to Connaissance. He told me that our Lord Léon Jean Reno had saved my life and brought me to that road to make the choice. I could go south and live on the alms collected by the Church. Or I could go north and find work and live like a man."
The old man nodded his head and even clapped his hands, "Our Lord truly works in mysterious ways!"
Sir Colton nodded and smiled, "The man who met me here in this very room gave me a choice, I could hold to my oath as a knight, train new soldiers and return to my life as a Knight commander serving the citizens of the City of Connaissance. Or I could turn around and go south. I knew our Lord was testing me, so I accepted his offer. For the first time since I was a young squire, I regained the feeling of pride in being a knight and serving the greater good."
The old man's smile slowly melted away, "Our Inquisition, be honest with me my child, has it become worse than the evil it was meant to combat?"
Sir Colton looked down as his fist balled up, "Evil? In my twenty years of service to the Church I never once killed an evil man. I have killed so many good soldiers and honest people you could populate the City of Connaissance with them had I not been ordered to take their lives. It was all for men who claimed to speak for our Lord Léon Jean Reno wearing the colors of our Church. My last battles for the Church were slaughtering cities in the Chadtom Empire because they may have been involved with the deaths of Inquisition soldiers from the Windsor Kingdom. We never asked a single question of anyone."
The old man looked incredibly defeated and sad, "I have been blind to it all and have allowed such rot in the Church as to make it nothing more than another kingdom."
Sir Colton's eyes went wide, "You are Cardinal Pujols?"
Cardinal Pujols nodded, "I am. I won't hide it from you, I know about the Skyship, about how our Church forced that girl down this road and how our Church has made mistake after mistake turning good to bad and bad to good. Just as our Lord spoke to you by taking your arm and your livelihood and forcing you to find this road for your atonement, so has he brought me here to this same road for the same purpose. I came this time by myself to seek out this girl and offer my life to save the Church. I know that she has the power to take it all away with her skyship."
Sir Colton shook his head and laughed, "Your Eminence, I am afraid you have the wrong idea about Lady Connaissance." He smiled and looked up toward the city up the mountain out of his office window. "This Lady is not evil. She is... And please don't think of this as heresy, she is like Lord Léon Jean Reno. A figure in history that brings people together. That genuinely does her best so that everyone has the chance to be who they can be... I am going to let you up to the City, I want you to walk around and chat with its people. Since Lady Connaissance has been here the people have begun to thrive. There are jobs for everyone who commits to working. There are Opportunites for those who can do more than just work. She cleaned the air, rebuilt the city moving even the poor from absolute squalor to lives that even a Knight like myself looked at with envy. You had to have seen the villages around the wall here, right? Those people were mostly the homeless and destitute from the Windsor Kingdom. They came here not for alms, but an opportunity. A chance to live like men again. Just like I did."
Cardinal Pujols nodded his head, "Why is she keeping the Church out? Surely there is a place for God in the hearts and minds of the people?"
"To my knowledge hasn't stopped a single person in the city from holding their own beliefs. She just doesn't allow organized religions to hold power and spread the teachings of the religions or take the people's money and claim to speak for the figures at the center of religions. You can find the Holy Book at any bookstore in the city. You can find books about the Gods and Goddesses worshiped by the Chadtom Empire and the even the Fursian Kingdom. What you won't find are priests, magi, or clergy."
Cardinal Pujols looked enlightened, "So she is not barring the Church's teachings, she is just barring the Church... I must meet with Lady Connaissance."
Sir Colton nodded and then said, "Your Eminence, to meet with the Lady, simply go to the City Hall. There you will find a round desk at the foot of two grand staircases. Explain to the women working at that desk who you are and ask for an appointment. She will not make you wait long if my guess is correct." He then looked down again and said, "Your Eminence I can't promise that you'll be received with a warm welcome or that she won't just have you escorted out of the city. If I am ordered, I will have to escort you back beyond the Archway to the Windsor Kingdom. I will allow you passage through this gate up to the city, there is another gate you must pass to actually enter the city. Honesty is best should you meet with Captain Alexander."
Cardinal Pujols smiled and said, "I would never lie. I may be incredibly naive and blind to the doings of the Church I was tasked to lead, but I am a man of God and I follow the holy scripture."
Sir Colton nodded. He picked up a small paper and stamped it. "Take this to the building across the way, you'll find the city clerk. I have stamped your visitor's visa, they will help you fill out the rest. I would do so myself but I was right-handed."
Cardinal Pujols stood up and took Sir Colton's hand and bowed his head, "Lord, thank you for allowing Sir Colton to be here with vital information I need to complete your work. He is a man who still has it in him to be your knight and serve the people here as a knight should. Bless him in his work and forgive him for the sins caused by me and your Church." He released Sir Colton's hand and said, "Thank you, Sir Colton. When you turned north instead of south, you did make the correct choice, for yourself and the Church. I hope that you'll never have any doubts. You're right, our Lord Léon Jean Reno guided you here for a greater purpose. "
*****
Two soldiers from the Fursian Embassy knocked on Emily's door. She opened the door with a look of surprise, "Can I help you?"
One of them looked around her residence over her head and asked, "We are looking for her Highness, Princess Teslaimia."
Emily nodded and then said, "One moment, let me get her..."
The soldier pushed past her into the room, "Princess Teslaimia, your father has sent an immediate order for you to return with us, we are not allowed to accept any counter-order or excuse."
Teslaimia walked out of the bedroom buttoning up her blouse, "Return? Why has father ordered my return?"
The soldier smiled and said, "Your father has good news for you. He has negotiated your marriage with the Emperor of the Holy Chadtom Empire. You will be escorted by Royal caravan to the Holy Chadtom Empire for your marriage. Congratulations Empress."
Teslaimia looked at Emily with a desperate look filled with sadness and guilt, "I don't understand. He told me that he would never marry me, why is this happening?"
Emily looked concerned as well, she asked, "Can you give us a few minutes, please?"
The soldier shook his head and answered stoically, "I'm sorry, our orders are to bring her highness at once. Any possessions she has here will be picked up by one of our people in two days."
The other soldier grabbed Princess Teslaimia by the armpit and nearly dragged her away as the first soldier blocked Emily from following. After Teslaimia was out of the room the man leaned forward and whispered, "We can't allow her highness to be sullied in your residence for even a single night longer. Next time you choose such a dangerous immoral relationship, don't put it in your newspaper." He reached into his pocket and brought a copy of the morning paper, pushing it into her hand." He bowed and then made his exit as well gently closing the door as he left."
Emily felt completely lost. Finally, she looked down at the newspaper article he had pushed into her hand. The social section had an article about how Captain Alexander had lost in love with Teslaimia because she and Lady Connaissance had become lovers. It also described how Jon had left Lady Connaissance for Teslaimia after falling in love with her at first sight. Emily blinked away tears as her hand shook. How could something like this end up in the paper? She had never displayed anything in public that would lead to anyone writing such a story.
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