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In the carriage, Heath continued to apply his mix of herbs to the side of Tayin's face. With a sharp inhale, Tayin complained. "It stings!"

Heath smiled kindly as he pat down the wound made from the pirate captain's boot. "You sound like a kitten, Tayin."

Whispee giggled as she watched him receive treatment. Then, as she watched his eyes she asked: "Tayin, what's troubling you?"

He almost snapped back at her, jerking away from the treatment with his head as he did. "I should ask the same of you! You've been acting really strangely recently." Then he groaned as he moved his head back into place.

Whispee looked out the window with a huff. "Well, if that's how you're going to act, then I won't be concerned about you anymore!"

Tayin crossed his arms and furrowed his brows. "Fine," he shouted.

Heath patted Tayin's shoulder and spoke in a very mellow and kind voice. "Now, now. If we make enemies of our friends, who is left to fight for?"

Tayin sighed heavily and continued to look away. Whispee looked down, ashamed of their little quarrel. After a few minutes of silence, she looked back up. "If you must know, I'm worried about our High Inquisitor."

His eyes get wide as he looks at her. "Shh~! He might hear! He's only outside."

She shook her head. "No, not above the wheels and steeds. The artifact we found, that compass... what do you think it does?"

Tayin shrugged gently. "I don't know." He inhaled sharply as Heath touched another sensitive spot. "Ouch, again."

Heath chuckled gently and said "my apologies," as he continued to rub at the wound.

Whispee looked irritated at Tayin and motioned a thumb back towards the driver's seat on top of the carriage. "Ever since he's picked up the box it's in, he's been acting strange. Won't tell us what it does, its purpose, a story about it, nothing. He won't even trust others enough to hire a driver. Something's gotten into him."

Tayin waved a hand through the air in a nonchalant manner. "Isaad's fine. Surely, it's just something important that he can't entrust to anyone else. It could be so powerful, that the mention of what it does would corrupt someone enough to try and take it from him." He then tilted his head in thought as he didn't really think about it until he said it.

Whispee shook her head and got more worked up. "No! Haven't you heard the stories of Coldclaw's partner Fireblossom? It's said that after finding an old object of power, she slowly got driven mad by the power seeping through it, and eventually became corrupted! It could be happening to our High Inquisitor, just as it did with the two Grand Inquisitors 35 years ago!"

Tayin stared at her like she was crazy. "Right... I think you're thinking too much."

Whispee looked alarmed as she turned to the window. The carriage was coming to a stop. "Did he hear me?"

Isaad quickly opened the door with a look of concern. "Everyone out. We must hurry, there is an issue ahead at the small village of Dao'donjuda."

After a pause of looking between each other, Tayin and Whispee gathered their effects and exited the cart. Not much further down the path through the woods, a series of fires lit the forest and the sky for them. Tayin put his arm over his eyes. "It is almost like looking at the sun!"

Isaad looked back, watching Heath climb out of the carriage. "Let's hope it doesn't get that bad. We have to see what we can do. Maximize survivors, and slay evil immediately." He waved a hand for them to follow as he quickly walked the path, gripping the handle of his mace tightly.

After the inquisitors arrived at the short stone wall of the village, Isaad popped his head up over it to take a peak. He crouched down and looked at Whispee and Tayin. "Bandits. Only two hands of myrrolds. There's one other, but I'm not sure what it is. They are about as tall as an orc, but definitely not stocky enough for one."

Tayin looked surprised. "Two hands of myrrold bandits did this? What happened to the guards?"

Isaad shook his head. "How and why are not the questions right now. We must eradicate what evil we can, and try to take that other one hostage. Looks like the leader."

Whispee slipped on a set of decorative jeweled claws on her fingertips. She looked at the two of them. "Charged and ready."

Isaad nodded. "Heath, don't follow immediately, but keep tailing us. I have a feeling there are those who may need you here more than we do." Then he waved his arm and stood, moving around the wall and into the village. "Oh..."

The bandit group had made a semi-circle around the entrance, with bows and crossbows pointed at Isaad. There were two villagers among the bandits, tied up and kneeling on the ground. By the back of the bandit ring, a figure in a black cloak stood, chuckling. His voice came from the hood in an excited high-pitched gravely tone. "I thought it smelled of rat! You've made this easier on me, coming to us."

Isaad held a hand out to the others behind him, then turned towards the bandit leader and took a step forward. His eyes followed the arrow points trained on him. "Or have you made it easier by keeping all of your bandits in one place?"

The bandit leader let out a wicked laugh as he grabbed a little girl by the hair. She cried out and tried to protest, but he drew a serrated dagger and held it up to her throat, looking at Isaad. "Inquisitor! If you attack now, I will spill her blood all over the ground... and it will be on your hands!" The girl shrieked and tried to pull his hands away, but he was far stronger than her. "Stop squirming you brat!"

Isaad slowly re-holstered his mace and nodded. "Alright. What is it that you want?"

The bandit pulled back his hood, revealing a very human-like appearance. The only off part was the knife-like ears, and the blood-red eyes. "Your artifacts. All of them." He grinned widely, showing off his shark-like teeth.

Isaad's eyes narrowed, and his ears pinned back as he snarled. "The Kin, am I right?" His fists clenched tightly as his inner hatred burned. "You expect me to hand over all of my artifacts, and you'll go on your way and leave the village alone."

The bandit cackled. "No! I expect you and your friends there to hand over all of your artifacts, then we'll finish pillaging and burning down the village and the four of you can live." He punctuated his proposal by pressing the edge of the blade against the girl's neck, who cried audibly.

Isaad sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to negotiate with this bandit. "The proposal doesn't even guarantee her safety. I guess it can't be helped." He began to draw his mace back off its holster.

The bandit growled and took his blade away from the girl for a second to point it at Isaad. "Kill him!" As he issued the command, a thunderous boom echoed through the forest as a blast of lightning struck him directly in the chest, blowing him back. Whispee slipped one of her jeweled claws off as it dimmed from the discharge.

The bandits let loose their shots on cue with the boom which startled them. Isaad reacted quickly in defense, and slashed his metal gauntlet through the air. The magic of the gauntlet called a sudden burst of wind before him, and all of the arrows were met with a forceful wall of air, flipping them back harmlessly. With the open avenue, Isaad leapt at the bandits, and pounded his shoulder into the first one on his way. As the bandit stumbled back, a crushing blow from the mace found his chin and broke his jaw, sending him flat on his back with a trail of blood following from his mouth.

One of the bandits turned to grab the other hostage, but found an inquisitor blocking his path. Tayin had snuck around the group of bandits during the conversation between the two leaders. He mocked the confused bandit with a polite wave before he drove his blade right into the bandit's gut, and eviscerated him.

The quickly thinning group of bandits hit a state of confusion. Half of them scattering to either make a better range, or run all together. The other half went for their melee weapons, drawing swords and axes to combat the inquisitors. One found an opportunity with Tayin and charged him. The bandit yelled loudly, and swung his bastard sword at the inquisitor like an amateur. Tayin dodged to the side of the attack and swung his sword upwards, disconnecting the bandit's hands from his arms, and sending them twirling through the air horrifically.

The blood-curdling scream that resulted from the sudden loss of hands distracted one of the other bandits who turned from Isaad. "Joel, no!" The high inquisitor quickly caught the bandit off-guard and grabbed the myrrold's furry tail. He then yanked the bandit back towards him, only to crack the back of the bandit's skull with his mace, letting the shattered brain scatter, he let go of the bandit's tail.

Tayin turned to Isaad as he locked his blade with the hook under a bandit's axe. "Kaoton Izzadonjo, zuzoda eddonjoja du zao."

Isaad already knew what Tayin told him; these bandits were nothing but amateurs. Untrained individuals bought by the promise of coin. He growled and shouted out: "Surrender yourselves and be spared! Fight or run, and you shall die for your deeds!"

"NO!" The bandit leader stood up and swung his hand in fury. "Kill them! There are still six of you, and only two of them! Do not be lured into single fighting!" He grabbed another blade from his belt, a foreign serrated long sword.

Whispee narrowed her eyes. "Still able to stand after that? Then have a taste of this!" She whispered a short incantation as the jewels on her fingers glowed. The air around her hand became cold so quickly it was visible, forming a sizable chunk of ice that floated above her hand.

Isaad growled as a bandit charged him with renewed vigor, but with very little thought he avoided the charge and tripped the bandit flat on his face. Isaad's eyes were locked on the daemon, as he started to dash at his primary opponent. "Those who side with Xeno, oppressor of the rattus species, have forfeited their lives to our weapons!"

The bandit leader cackled as he saw Isaad charge at him. "Good, good! Feel your rage!" He whirled around as he saw the chunk of ice hurtling towards him. He let out a roar and threw his hands out to either side, and as if obeying his unspoken command, the ground cracked beneath him. A pillar of flames spewed up around him and broke apart the threatening block of ice. He exploded from the pillar of flames, gripping his long blade tightly and met Isaad half-way. Metal sounded loudly as their weapons clashed, and Isaad, the shorter of the two, held his ground as the bandit pressed his leverage down. "Do you fear death, mortal?"

Isaad gritted his teeth and glared menacingly at the kin. "Only in death is one immortal." He spouted off from his teachings, in hopes of holding power over the daemon that way. Suddenly, he found a body on his back, as one of the bandits had leapt onto him, and grabbed on around his neck. With the added weight he leaned forward and pushed himself into the lock of weapons, shoving the bandit leader back. With an expert motion, he sent the bandit flying forward off of his back, only for him to land stomach first onto his leader's blade, dropping the daemon to the ground under the dead weight.

Tayin pushed back the bandit he had locked with and kicked dirt up at them. The bandit stumbled back blindly, but stopped short as pain hit every one of his nerves once Tayin's blade plummeted through his heart. The remaining bandits were quickly realizing that taking the offer of surrender may be best. The four of them bunched up and watched the duel between the two leaders, unsure of what to do until there was an outcome.

Isaad held his mace over his shoulder and pointed his gauntlet at the leader, commanding with a growl; "Get up, daemon! I shall not face a worm, but an opponent!"

The kin pushed the corpse off of him, disgusted at the face that was frozen in shock and fear. He stumbled up and spat on the ground before Isaad. "A worm, hey? You are the worms. You're all failed experiments that escaped the tubes. Doomed to die unrecognized by any god but one worthless lout! Hah!" The daemon swung his dagger upwards in the air, and tore open the fabric of reality in front of him. An oval rift appeared, burning with orange energy.

Isaad's eyes went wide, and he shouted in disbelief. "Do not think you shall escape, daemon!" He began to charge the kin, who waved with a grin.

"I think I shall, you pitiful scum!" The kin hastily stepped into the portal, lifting his legs like he was stepping over a fence to get into the smaller hole he made out of desperation.

Isaad roared as he seethed with rage, and leapt into the portal after the daemon. As he went into the rift, the black box he kept in his cassock suddenly emanated with power. His body glowed white, as the image of the compass scorched itself into the ground beneath the rift just before the tear burned shut, taking Isaad and the daemon with it. Leaving only a smoldering 8-pointed star beneath where the portal was.