“How many of them are there?”

“Nine, plus one on standby outside the grounds, and they show surprising skill for teenagers. Three have even penetrated into the complex,”

Wotan smiled, as if recalling old memories. “They were taught at Payne’s school; I’d expect nothing less from them,”

The three figures kneeing before him glanced at each other from beneath their overhung hoods.

“Bishop Wotan, if we may be so bold,” said one, a small figure who couldn’t have been much older than a teenager, “Isn’t this all the evidence we need?”

“I agree,” said a large man with a deep voice, “Your plot to lower security and trap these students in the act of infiltration and sabotage has been a resounding success. Should we not round them up and proceed with eradicating that blasphemous school now we have infallible proof of its heresy?”

“Not yet,” said Wotan, “Such a manoeuvre would be too brash,”

“Bishop, although I understand your intrigue and desire to gather data on Rembrandt Payne’s activities, time is quickly running out!” said the young man.

“The entourage will arrive soon, if we don’t act now…” said the third figure, a middle-aged woman judging by her voice.

Wotan looked pensive as he sat, statue-like, in the cathedra. “You are correct,” he said, after a short pause, “However, I am willing to chance the dice, as it were. It will be my head that rolls if things don’t go to plan,”

His subordinates exchanged worried looked again. “Bishop, we are… concerned by your attitudes,” said the woman.

“Doctrine tells us to eradicate all heresy at any cost, and yet you continue to give heretics a reprieve,” said the older man, “This whole operation shouldn’t have even been needed. Your judgement is final; you don’t need so much evidence to bring down Rembrandt Payne,”

“Are you questioning my faith?” asked Wotan with a raised eyebrow, through everything else about him was still rigid.

The man cast his head down further, so the hood covered what little of his face anyone could see. “No. No, of course not! We just think…”

The young man looked up. “We think you are being too cautious. There are others who suggest you are not even worthy of your position. They say that’s why we’re being investigated…”

A grim smile spread across Wotan’s face. “I’m more than aware of what some people have been suggesting.” He leaned forward on the edge of his seat and made sure to catch the trio’s eyes, “I have been careful in whom I place my trust, and even more so in those I assign power. If I did not have faith in the three of you, I would not have you as advisors. I only ask that you maintain your faith in me,”

The three of them bowed their heads in unison. “Always, Bishop,”

Wotan slunk back in his throne, a statue once more. “Give the order to arrest any deviants caught on the grounds,”

Chapter 18
Previous / Continue
(page 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7)