Inquisitor's Promise (Act One, Chapter Nine)

The opening of the ancient gate had been ominous. Down on Earth, young Inquisitor Aeneas Aquilanus was blissfully unaware that his life was going to change forever.

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Chapter Nine: Everything Falls Apart

The loud sound of explosion was heard throughout Castle Aquila. Both Aeneas and Anchises instantly stood up, their relaxed posture changed to one of seriousness. Both Inquisitors were ready for action.

There was mayhem in the halls of Castle Aquila. The crowd was in panic with people trying to get to safety.

“Aeneas, we need to calm the people down,” Anchises told his son.

Aeneas scanned the crowd, then looked up. He could see that there was nothing in the ceiling that could be damaged.

“I’m on it,” Aeneas said.

Aeneas took out his testudo shield which hadn’t been put away yet. He pressed the button on top to turn the shield into a turret. Once he aimed the turret upwards, he fired. The loud noise of the turret quieted the crowd.

Anchises gave Aeneas a dirty look. “That could have easily panicked the crowd even more, but this is not the time.”

The older Inquisitor then turned towards the crowd. He commanded the people to calm down and prepare themselves for an orderly evacuation.

Aeneas did not say anything as his father gave the spiel to the people. The younger Inquisitor was impressed with how his older counterpart was able to rally the crowd that was panicking just a few minutes ago.

Once the crowd had calmed down, Anchises discussed his plan of escape with Aeneas and a group of Castle Guards.

“So you understand your role, Aeneas?” Anchises asked his son.

“Yes. I’m the point man, basically,” Aeneas answered.

Anchises then pressed a device that was attached to his wrist. A holographic picture emerged out of the device. Forgetting the situation, Aeneas looked on in awe; holograms were very rare outside of the Great Pyramid. What Anchises possessed was a personal navigational communicator or ‘nav-comm’, a new technology that only a select few in Christendom had access to. It was no surprise for Aeneas that his father was one of them.

“The Castle Guards have determined the source of the explosion to be around this part of the castle,” Anchises said as he pointed to the southern end of the castle. “That means, we’re going to take the northern route. Outside, we’ll rendezvous with the police, and they’ll take the crowd off our hands. Any questions?”

“No,” Aeneas shook his head. “Let us go.”

Aeneas led the way as the crowd followed behind. Meanwhile, Anchises and some Castle Guards were at the back or in the middle of the crowd, making sure that everything was orderly.

Aeneas followed the path that was given to him by his father. Not that it was necessary, he knew Castle Aquila like the back of his head. Aeneas took a turn, and the crowd followed him. With no hostiles detected in the room, he moved on.

Aeneas and the crowd continued to move on. No hostiles, and they kept on moving.

Another turn to another room. No hostiles, and they kept on moving.

Another turn to another room. No hostiles, and they kept on moving.

Another turn to another room. No hostiles, and they kept on moving.

Aeneas and the crowd were close to exiting Castle Aquila. Things had been good so far. Too good. As Aeneas were moving forward, shield in hand, he thought of what the perpetrators of the attack might be trying to accomplish. If they wanted to kill many people, they wouldn’t have blown up the southern end of the castle, where there were very few people if at all. Which meant that the bomb was just a distraction, to get people to move. But that would mean that Aeneas and the crowd was moving into a trap.

Aeneas then realized that the room he was in was the northern entrance hall of Castle Aquila. The spacious room was domed and beautifully painted. More importantly, this was one of the largest rooms in the castle and could hold a lot of people.

Aeneas did not see anyone when he walked in. But then he remembered that the northern entrance’s domed structure was unique in Castle Aquila.

Aeneas looked up, squinting his eyes for details. But he found nothing. And yet, something was bothering him.

He looked up again, just to make sure. Squinting once more, he took a closer look at the colors.

To his horror, he saw a dark figure hanging on a jutting paneling near the ceiling of the room. There was a statue of a gargoyle there; the figure was expertly camouflaged that it was a surprise that Aeneas could spot him at all. Clearly, the figure had been waiting for the maximum amount of people to get in.

“Hostile, up above!” Aeneas yelled. “Look for the gargoyle!”

Anchises and the Castle Guards looked up and pointed their weapons to the ceiling.

Realizing that his cover had been blown, the figure jumped away and threw a grenade. That grenade was aimed at the center of the crowd.

Aeneas could only watch helplessly as the grenade was falling. He was too far away to do anything about it.

But Anchises was not, he ran as quickly as he could. The older Inquisitor jumped up high, higher than Aeneas thought his father was capable of. Then, he took out his pistol and aimed it at the assassin before he fired.

It was a direct hit to the head. The superior quality of the older Inquisitor’s pistol meant that it was able to pierce through the assassin’s energy shield. Dead, the assassin fell from high up.

But the job was not done for Anchises. The older Inquisitor caught the grenade that the assassin threw and held it close to his chest.

And the grenade blew up.

Anchises’ energy shield was able to absorb some of the blast, but it was not enough to prevent him from bleeding terribly.

It was fortunate that the Castle Guards were able to keep the crowd from stampeding that night, because that was the least of Aeneas’ concerns.

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