Maleficarum

Tristan Redd''s journey continues.

An abandoned mansion, though in fairly good condition with the exception of dead, dying and overgrown plantation, is where we suspect our mages will be. We kick the door open, subtlety is not the forte of the Knights, and roam the house. It smells something awful! Do they keep- Wait, if it smells like rotting flesh, and these are rogue mages then…
"Captain!" I whisper harshly, and he walks over, "These are not just rogue mages. These are maleficarum."
"Redd, keep calm. You smell it too though, don't you?" He sighs and shakes his head. That grimace, one of legend in the Tower. It's a sign that he's praying to Leto for help, because we can't go it alone; not with maleficarum on the scene. Exhaling heavily, he marches ahead of me again; more professionally than I could dream of doing. How can a walk be 'professional' or 'demanding'? He's moving, transporting himself from one place to another. That's all.
Moving further into the depths of the house we're exposed to more. More cobwebs, more tables, more tipped chairs and broken furnishings, more of a stench, more blood... Until we open the door to a silent room and see something grotesque. A corpse,cut open to bleed, lay on the table. The body, it was a woman at some point, was pale - her blood in a few little bottles around her. The incision was deep, going from the bottom of her bust to the top of her naval; she hadn't been stripped either, the cut went through her pale green shirt, that - by the stains on the fraying edges - had absorbed some blood. The death was magic-related - there were minor wounds but they probably wanted to preserve blood for their precious power. At least, I suppose, they had the decency to close her eyes - or had she done that in her final moments?
It's one of those things you can't stomach looking at, but you're drawn to it. She's beginning to smell a little, but the poignant stench isn't hers. There are others. We look to the Captain, maybe he knows what to do with her. He puts his fist on his chest, over his heart and bows his head - we do the same.
   "Leto, allow this woman to see your light and let it guide her eternally. Forevermore;" We repeat 'forevermore' out of respect for Leto and the woman's soul. He looks to her again, and walks on. I, however, can't stop staring at it. What monsters can do this and say they deserve freedom?

The four officers look nervous, Captain Luke keeps composed, I'm furious. We leave this room and head into the next. The building is like a maze! No wonder malificarum chose this place to hide. By the time we find them, it'll be too late. This new room smells a little worse, I think we're nearly there. Just a little closer to those demons, and I can give them a punishment they deserve. I can make them bleed, just like that harmless woman.

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True enough, we found them in a worse setting. The bottles of blood on the table in the back of the room, between two flights of stairs. Corpses plague the cold, dirty floors. There's a chill in the air that puts a weight on your shoulders - or was that this ludicrous armour? Oh, it doesn't matter. I'll make this scum pay!

No talking. Not this time. In cases of maleficarum, there are three things we can do - arrest them (to either no avail, or the deaths of many people; both Knights and mages alike), die (because maleficarum recognise the uniform very well) or we could kill them. I've charged at them already, no mercy in my eyes, no surrender from my sword. The crimes they have committed are horrific and plentiful; they're murderers, they're maleficarum, they're rogue mages, they're also squatting and therefore avoiding tax. The last two were petty, but still offences. In this case - in any case I'm on involving the malificarum - death is our only option.
Their magic is increasing in power, drawing extra energy from the blood of the corpses. I'm not sure how it works, I just know it's illegal and immoral. All six of us are warriors. We're all armed with swords, and a few magic draining enchantments on them. This makes them slightly less powerful, but there's so much blood! The room smells foul, and I have to stop myself from gagging due to the fighting. I plunge my greatsword straight into the gut of one mage; it goes through him. Whilst he's still on it, I slash to my right, knocking another and killing the first for sure. Only another... nine or so to go.
I stab the second mage whilst he's cowering on the floor for good measure, and head over to help the cluster of officers across the room from Captain Luke - who's occupied by tackling three on his own. The recruits are badly equipped. Iron longswords? Standard shields in design, made from reinforced wood? This is training equipment! I'll sort this when we get back to the barracks. I'll make a formal compliant I'll...
I'll kill these mages as I'm frustrated! Ramming my sword into the chest of a mage, I'm watching the blood pour out of his body, as well as his breath and life. His eyes widen as my sword gets buried deeper, and even in this light I can say that they're blue. I hear a call of agony from a voice I know too well.
Leto, no, please don't let it be true!