- This is a dark child! And he must be punished! You mages have forgotten what the light of true faith is and only cause innocent souls to go astray and fall into darkness!
"And here we are, accused. Great!"
Grabbing the little holier-than-thou by the neck and pulling him off the ground, the vampire hissed in his face.
- Now repeat worm, what did you just say?
Several village men rushed to the aid of their priest, but were intercepted by the gendarmes. No man can compete in speed with a vampire. They beat the intercessors without restraint. Bloody shards, teeth and bodies flew in different directions. The women screamed. Throwing the man he was holding aside, Alexander approached Sophie.
- Aren't you scared, little girl?
- I'm afraid of you," the girl answered him quietly, smearing tears on her face, and added with the most serious look, "And I haven't been afraid of them for a long time.
The vampire grinned and leaving the girl, approached the priest, who just started to rise from the ground. A powerful blow to his face sent him back to the ground. Four teeth fell out of his bloody mouth. A kick to the ribs broke several of them. Deciding that the light father had had enough, the vampire gestured for the gendarmes to deal with him and stood before the hushed crowd.
- This scum has decided to judge an innocent in my care. Is there anyone else who wishes to challenge my right to dispose of my men?
Naturally, there were none. No, of course, not everyone agreed with what had happened. Many did not agree with the interpretation of the events or the massacre the knight had inflicted on the priest, but no one said a word out loud. This world did not know the laws of tolerance and democracy, who is stronger, and the truth, that was the law prescribed by an invisible thread at the beginning of each set of rules of this society.
And the force was on the side of Knight Blood and had a tangible embodiment, in the form of ten armored fighters. Those who dared to oppose this force now lay on the ground, and it was unclear whether they would ever get up from it themselves.
They did not linger in the Sands. As if by magic, a cart appeared, and Sophie left the village. The priest was bound, and a long rope was stretched from his hands to the saddle of the horse of one of the gendarmes; the light father was to walk on his own two feet to the town, praying that the riders would ride quietly. At the same time, the headman was looking at the human hand folded into a fist in front of his face.
- So that when the bishop and baron's men show up here, all the villagers will have a unified view of what happened. Is that clear?
The man nodded petulantly. It was in his best interest, too, so he would certainly try. The vampire said his goodbyes and jumped up on his horse. The small but impressive cavalcade left the village of Sands.
The guards at the gates of the town preferred not to notice the man in the priest's robe running tied behind his horse. All the men on guard looked at the man as one and the same, but not at the prisoner. The townspeople were more understanding than the villagers, for they had tried to wrest their prey from the vampires when they passed Torfyanoy. Naturally unorganized and completely unprofessional, so it ended with a couple of broken noses and universal resentment.
The bishop, who had greeted the knight unfriendly at first, grew more and more luminous as his guest's story progressed. When Alexander finished, the local high priest looked like a cat that had eaten sour cream and valerian at the same time. His main rival and a pain in the ass, the priest of Pleshina, who was aiming for his place, was losing his main ally, who had made a big mistake.
Of course, it was not a good thing to let the mages get away with such an appeal to the light father, but the opportunity to get rid of the headache and eliminate the support of his rival outweighed everything. After taking the prisoner and thanking the knight for his work, the bishop personally escorted him out of the church.
Already returning back to his office he remembered the recent episode with the mysterious night intrusion. The priest, now sitting in a cold basement, had certainly committed a serious offense, but unfortunately not serious enough to be neutralized permanently. What if...
Needless to say, already in the evening the hapless light father confessed not only to exceeding his own authority and attempting to slander an innocent light soul, but also to attempting to murder the bishop. A hasty investigation at the Sands only confirmed this testimony. The execution was not delayed, and the burning alive man amused the people of Savoyardi right at the end of the month.
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