Episode Thirty-Four: There and Back Again

Episode Thirty-Four: There and Back Again

“We’re home,” a small smile graces her face before, a split second later, she doubles over in pain. She cries out, “gahh!” The hand that flew to her chest comes away bloody, from some unseen wound beneath her armor. She begins to cough, flecks of blood stains her lips as she does so. She sinks to her knees, breathless and grimacing.

“Castor! What–? Are you alright?” Immediately, Ivetta’s hands glow with healing light and she presses them to her friend. The blood stops flowing from Castor’s wounds and her face loses its palor, a healthy flush returning.

Still grimacing, Castor wipes her blood coated hand on her clothes before placing it on her head, pressing. “My vision… I know what we need to find. A glass necklace. There was a man…Manuel maybe? He seemed familiar but I couldn’t see his face…He was clouded in shadow, people were dressing him in robes. He…saw me and yelled something.” She massages her forehead, “that hurt. Thanks Ivetta.” She gets to her feet again, wiping more blood off herself.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Ivetta worries.

“Yeah, we’re home!” She smiles and looks back to the street. “But when is the question.” The buildings seem much the same, the people recognizable. “Perhaps this is after we left?”

“We should stay hidden as much as possible if that is the case.”

“We can go to my house, when I left, I asked Father Marian to watch over my mother. If we’ve already gone then perhaps they are caring for her already. And we can find some…less obvious attire.” They look at themselves and find they’re still wearing the clothes from the twenty-first century city.

“Then we should head there.” Tobias agrees. Ellen Mary nods in ascent.

They move through their city, smelling, seeing, and feeling the home they had missed for so long. Castor has to hold back tears at seeing her small home again, its disrepair familiar and a welcome sight for sore eyes. She reassures her friends she will be right back and slinks to her mother’s bedroom window, always propped open for the fresh air. She peeks inside and, seeing no one else in the room, enters, careful not to disturb her sleeping mother.

Castor checks on her mother, ensures she’s comfortable, then leaves the room. She tiptoes about the house, gathering things. Clothes, food, etc. Relieved she finds her own room deserted and changes into some of her old clothes which, she finds, are much smaller than they used to be, especially in the chest area, instead she opts to don some of her father’s old vestments. For Ivetta and Ellen Mary, she gathers a couple of her mother’s dresses. Tobias should be alright in his priestly clothes but just in case she grabs an overcoat. She moves to the kitchen and finds a small loaf of bread. She bumps a chair, it scrapes the floor and rattles to a stop. Her mother’s strained voice floats out to her, “Castor? Is that you? I thought you left…”

Choking back tears again, Castor manages, “yes, it's me. I—I forgot something…” she trails off.

Her mother’s weak voice came again, wispy and frail, “You left so quickly…I said things I didn’t mean earlier, Castor…I am so proud of you. And… I love you.”

The dam bursts and Castor rushes to her mother’s bedside, tears flowing down her face. She gives her mother a gentle but firm hug. Her mother, unable to move well, simply pats her head, her eyes half-lidded. “I love you mother. I—I promise I’ll return when I can.” She kisses her forehead and leaves through the front door, her mother already asleep.

Castor wipes her eyes as she returns to her friends and hands them her gathered clothes. “Is everything alright, Castor?” Ellen asks as she sees Castor’s red eyes.

She nods, “I…missed her so much. But that’s not all. It seems that it's the day before we left. Mother…she said that I had left in a hurry earlier. It must be the day we had our visions.”

Ivetta adds, “If that’s the case maybe we just wait until we leave, find the necklace then.”

“Or we could help ourselves leave in a better way.” Castor thinks out loud.

Ivetta looks down, “I wish I could check on Luca. but it might be better that I stay away for now.”

Castor gives her a sad look and reassuring pat, “you’ll see her soon.” Ivetta nods. “If we think it's Manuel, he went to the chapel. And if we want to make sure this is the day before we left, I know exactly I was there. Should we check there to make certain?”

Ivetta is resolute, “we should know for sure.”

They head to their local parish, where Castor had run after her trying experiences with both her master and mother. They all look in the door. One person kneels at the altar, her hands clasped together, deep in prayer: a younger Castor. Looking at herself, Castor feels a wave of nausea and a buzzing headache. She feels…wrong. She pulls back clasping her head. “Ugh, yeah. That’s me alright. I spend the night here on the pews. Then tomorrow, I met you three after service.”

Ivetta concurs, “We all end up at my house tomorrow, steal the cross, and leave in the evening.” An idea hits her, “what if we kill Marco here? Now? Before he becomes…what he becomes.”

Alarmed, Castor quietly whisper-shouts, “we—we can’t do that! It could completely ruin us in this timeline. We wouldn’t be us anymore.”

Tobias interjects, “Killing him here would not benefit you. Here he is innocent. It would do more damage than harm removing him prematurely.”

“We should focus on getting the cross to ourselves so we can leave in a better light. So we can return and not be criminals.” Castor insists.

Darkness begins to descend on fair Florence so they can travel with less caution. They make their way toward the grand cathedral where the cross is at the moment but they just so happen to pass Ivetta’s house. Unable to contain her curiosity and desperation to see her loved ones, they stop by. Castor and Tobias boost Ivetta to look into her window. She feels sick looking at herself as Castor did. How much younger she was then! She and Marco…poor Marco talking, unknowing of the trials to come.

As she holds the frame of the window, she slips, making a noise, she ducks down quickly to avoid being spotted as her younger self whirls. She swears she remembers this happening. She heard something at the window that had alerted her to the torches marching down the street to her home. Her other self sees the torches and ushers Marco under the bed to hide before she runs downstairs to answer the door before her sister. Ivetta gestures to Tobias, Castor, and Ellen that they need to move. They make their egress and move closer to the cathedral to plan and hypothesize.

Their first idea is to disguise Father Tobias as the cardinal so he could enter the cathedral undetected. That idea is quickly scrubbed as they know the cardinal is in the cathedral at the moment, they have no way to get the robes undetected, and Tobias has no magical way to tell which of the 5 golden crosses at the altar is the right one. Castor remembers that they have a small magical spy beetle they can use. Castor closes her eyes with the beetle cupped in her palms. A glow slowly emanates from the beetle and then it opens its wings and flutters up. Under Castor’s guidance the beetle makes its way into the cathedral’s doors. Castor closes her palms together then pulls them apart. An almost screen-like projection hovers between her outstretched hands, showing them what the beetle sees.

Just as last time, the huge cathedral houses many works of art as well as several tents housing the red robed men. Many of whom are gathered at the altar with the cardinal himself. Castor flies the beetle closer to listen in on them, landing on the altar itself behind the cardinal. They hear the tail end of what is spoken about in the gathering. “...have not yet found the warlock known as Marco Fabri.”

The cardinal is gruff and unhappy at this news, “This must be dealt with by tomorrow. I will go to the local parish, see if I can’t convince someone to give him up. Continue to press his family, friends, associates, anyone who might be harboring him. I can’t believe you lot are what I have to work with, dismissed.” He waves them away and turns around to face the altar. He spots the beetle and tries to crush it but Castor pilots the beetle away just in the knick of time. “Blast!” He grumbles again then reaches for the golden cross on the altar. He inspects it. He holds it for a good while, looking at it, stroking it (gross), basically making out with it for half an hour. As he does this, the other occupants of the cathedral all prepare for bed, blowing out candles and locking the doors, etc.

Finally he replaces the cross with its brethren and moves to his private office. He closes the door just after the beetle manages to slip inside behind him and then he lights a candle, with his finger. Ivetta and Castor let out a gasp at his blatant display of magic. Well, he thought he was alone, they supposed, but still it came as a shock to them. He pulled a letter from his desk and sat down. He read it again and again. Castor lands the beetle gently on his shoulder so they too can read the document. It reads:

“I will arrive in Rome on Monday.

Signed,

Pope Julius III”

The pope’s seal is both the wax sealing and stamped beside the name. But Tobias looks closer at the seal, “That is not the papal seal. That is a forgery.”

“Are you sure?” Ellen asks.

He gives her a strange look, “certain.” The cardinal puts the letter away and retrieves an ancient black book with a small golden lock from a locked drawer. He sits back and sighs. For a few minutes he prays. Then he stands and extends his arm and sweeps it across the room. Castor moves the beetle down onto the back of his robes to avoid detection. Before he sits back down and opens the book. The beetle returns to his shoulder and they read with him. Although it is in Latin. Luckily Father Tobias translates for them. “It is a spell book. He’s reading about a tracking spell it is very convoluted. It seems this book was penned by a single person, the writing is all the same.” He flips to the end. “These are even more convoluted, disguise, detect lies. And this last page is about waypoints.” Castor and Ivetta’s interest, already piqued, doubled. Their anticipation was palpable as they hung on Tobias’ every word.

“The author seems to have met only two people who could make them.” He turns another page showing a myriad of drawings. The sketches are familiar. All the waypoints they themselves have used! The cross, necklace, charter, spyglass, pocket watch, papal tiar, gemstone, French letter, shackles, Star of David, and the rectangle box from New York. Castor exclaims in surprise. Ivetta’s mind already at work, she hypothesizes, “who could have written this? Viridis? Marco? One of us?”

The cardinal closes the book and locks it again. Then he rises, opens the curtains then kneels down beside his bed to pray. Castor deactivates the beetle and steps toward the window. She raises her hand and says, probably louder than she had anticipated, “sleep!” Behind the glass, the cardinal slumps forward. She then pries open the window with incredible ease and enters, gesturing for her friends to follow.

“I have a plan, she whispers, “Father Tobias, dress in his clothes then,” she reaches into her bag and pulls out the used cross waypoint they regained in the sorceress’ lair, “replace the waypoint with this dead one. No one will be the wiser and then you can give the waypoint to our younger selves. They don’t know you and our other selves won’t be in trouble for stealing.” They all agree on the solid plan. Castor picks up the useful little beetle and stows it away. Tobias dons the cardinal’s robes, simply pulling them over his own, takes the cross from Castor, takes the candle and moves to open the door.

Ivetta catches him with her words, “Wait! Make absolutely sure the two crosses don’t touch.”

“That would end badly,” Castor concurs. He gives them both a curt nod and exits.

He is sure to keep his face turned away from the tents just in case any one of those red robed men happened to be looking his way and made his way to the altar. No one stopped his progress and he made it to the other golden, ruby encrusted crosses. Knowing full well which cross the cardinal had caressed earlier he put down the candle then, delicately and deliberately, swapped the crosses, one in each hand. The magic between the two same waypoints even permeated Tobias’ plebeian skull as he heard an awful ringing in his ears as they passed each other. With his mission successful and not ending in an explosion, he headed back to the office.

Meanwhile the other three had been rifling through the office. Ivetta found inquisitional records dating back hundreds of years. Strangely, she finds nothing about her father. Castor finds papers indicating that the Medici are running the town, the cardinals seem to despise them but they provide the town with goods and supplies so they are tolerated. Ellen discovers hundreds of years worth of letters back and forth between Rome. Comparing them to the one the cardinal had been reading, it is significantly different, everything about it was off. As Tobias had said, it was a forgery. Either the cardinal didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Tobias returns, active waypoint in hand. This gleans a smile from all. Tobias removes the garish garment before they truss up the unconscious cardinal and drag him with them back out the window and into the alley. They need to find a place to lay low for a few hours so they head to an abandoned building, luckily with a view of Ivetta’s house so they could see their past selves enter and exit. The vacant old stable was set back from the main roads so they were fairly certain they would avoid detection, all the same they set a watch. They manage to get some sleep and spend the rest of the night and most of the day inside. The cardinal wakes up, gagged and bound. Ellen Barber taunts him in his panic but he remains their captive.

At about 1pm Ivetta spots a tall figure in a tattered brown cloak enters her old house. Ivetta pauses a moment, wait, who was that? Her mother? But she hadn’t been home last time they left…

A few minutes later young Ivetta, Castor, and Viridis arrive, Marco already inside. “We should all have our collective vision on what we need to get when we’re all together.” Castor says, “Father, you should go now.” He dutifully nods and leaves, heading for Ivetta’s door.

He knocks. A few whispers followed by a mad shuffle sounds from behind the door, frightened children in over their heads, trying to stay afloat. “Uh, hello? I was wondering if I could speak to the owner of the house?”

A young Ivetta answers. “May I help you, sir?”

“I was hoping I could help you. May I step in for a moment?”

“We don’t need any help,” young Ivetta says stalwartly.

“Just because the help isn’t needed doesn’t mean it won’t be appreciated. I think I may be able to help you.” Tobias sees three other heads peeking out from behind the apothecary’s counter, a bookshelf, and in the crack of a closet door. She says nothing, looking nervous.

Marco stands from behind the counter and shouts, “Wait, it's him! Get him!” and rushes forward from behind the counter, holding only his fists ready to tackle him. Tobias simply steps inside, pushing the young Ivetta to the side and draws his saber with one hand. In one swift maneuver he swings the pommel and hits Marco in the gut, driving the air out of his lungs. He falls to the floor, gasping for breath. Ivetta stands stunned.

“Please, just listen. I know there are people looking for you. It would be in your best interest not to conduct this conversation out on the street.” He steps in and closes the door behind him. Castor, a bit slow on the draw also rushes up, placing herself between him and her friends, tears already covering Castor’s face she begs, “Please! Please don’t hurt them! Don’t— don’t hurt my friends!” “I advise your friend not to charge at those wielding bladed weapons and he might have better luck in future.”

Ivetta says in a calm tone, “who are you, sir?”

Tobias sighs and says, “I’m here to give you this.” He dips his other hand into his pocket and draws out the golden cross. Their jaws drop, they are mystified. “Is that…? How is this possible?” Castor’s eyes glaze over and she reaches for the cross like it was the only thing she could focus on.

“Why do you have that?”

“I know you need it and I know you have to leave.”

Marco coughs from the ground, “don’t listen to him, he’s probably some spy.”

Viridis cuts in, putting her arm in front of Castor, “how do we know we can trust you? Prove we can trust you.”

Finally Tobias speaks, “you just received a divine vision telling you to find this cross. And then moments later, a person with the cross appears on your doorstep and offers it to you, freely. What can you call this but divine providence? Take your boons where you can find them. I mean you no harm, if I did you all would have been dispatched already or I could have brought the entire parish down upon you. Since I have done neither, it seems to be the only logical conclusion.”

“If you can’t trust him, then believe me.” A voice from the top of the stairs emanates. A gruff, grizzled, scarred old Hollinzoller appears. “I know this man. You can trust him. Take what he’s offering.”

Young Ivetta closes the door in a hurry before asking, “dad, you know who this man is?” He simply nods his head.

“There’s somebody who is going to need quite the explanation.”

“I’m sure we all will after this.”

“If my dad trusts him then he must be trustworthy.”

Marco rights himself with a sour look on his face, Viridis’ eyes never wavering from Tobias confirms he is unhurt. Castor looks around at the other three and gets a nod from Viridis. She shyly approaches Tobias. He is struck by how much bolder she has become since this time. Apart from defending her friends, young Castor can barely meet his eyes. Taking pity on her, he extends his hand and holds the cross for her to take. “T-thank you, s-sir.” Lightning quick she snatches the heavy golden waypoint almost instantly she drops it, having felt the strange tingle course up her arm. She sheepishly kneels down and grabs it again, this time with a cloth between it and her hand. Then, skittish as a newborn colt hurries behind her friends.

“Now, you all need to go. They’ll be looking for you.” Hollinzoller descends the stairs and kneels in front of his daughter. He pulls his journal out from his tattered brown cloak and hands it to her. “This will help you on the journey to come.”  He cups his daughter’s face and gives her a smile and a kiss on her forehead before he stands up. “You all have a long journey ahead of you, you’d better get a move on.”

They spend a few minutes whispering among themselves before they all move upstairs, leaving the men alone to speak.

Ivetta hefts a bag of supplies and the four young companions skirt past Tobias. He stops them for just a moment and says, “If you meet a priest in Germany, leave him where he is. He is happy there.” Castor gives him an odd look, Viridis a glare, and Marco seems to be puzzling in his head. Ivetta gives her dad a final hug as they depart.

Hollinzoller and Tobias are left to themselves. Hollinzoller, now quite a few years older than Tobias, gives him a wan smile, “I never thought I’d see you again. It is good to.”

“You know, the last time I saw you I almost killed you.”

“You did?”

“Not too long ago for me. But it is nice to meet again under better circumstances.”

“Likewise. What are you doing here? How did you get here? I thought you'd be back in Germany, I think that’s where you were headed.”

“That is the intended destination but the journey doesn’t seem to be over yet. Yours is a more… roundabout journey than ours. Do you remember the towers?”

Hollinzoller waves his hand, his brow furrowing, “Vague recollections. Nothing concrete. I know something terrible happened. My daughter…Ivetta. Is she alright? Something awful happened there.”

“She is well, I’m sure she’d love to tell you about it. She is nearby but couldn’t come for obvious reasons—”

Hollinzoller cuts him off, grabbing his biceps, “she’s here?! Take me to her!” Caught off guard by his fervor, Tobias agrees. They leave the apothecary and head to their hideout.

The instant he sees Ivetta he wraps her in a hug. “Honey! You’re alright! You’ve come back!” She’s shocked momentarily, “dad? How are you here?!” She reciprocates the hug, relishing the tightness with which he holds her. Tears prick her eyes and she can’t help but let them fall. “My sweet baby girl…” He sobs, “you’re safe. Are you staying here? Please don’t leave again.”

“I don’t know— I don’t know what we have to do.”

“What do you mean? What—what are you doing here?”

“We have to do something. We’re here for a reason.” He finally breaks the embrace but still holds her hands, looking her up and down.

“But are you safe? Are you hurt?”

“No. I’m—I’m okay now that I know you’re alive. I— I thought you were died, again!”

“Of course I’m alive, why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s a long story…”

“A story you can tell me about, I’m sure.”

“Sometime, yes, of course…um…”

“Ivetta, your journey must be over…right?”

“I wish. I— I don’t know. There’s this man, Castor saw him in her vision. He was actually able to hurt her. While she was in the vision. He saw and attacked her.”

“Not someone you should be pursuing then.”

“He has something we need. A necklace.”

He grows solemn, “your journey is not over.”

“...no. Dad, you don’t know how much I wish it was. How much I wish I could just—” her voice breaks as a new wave of tears washes over her.

Castor chimes in, “I mean maybe…you could stay here.”

Hollenzoller agrees quickly, “Castor’s right.”

Ivetta turns to her, “I can’t leave you. I can’t leave you to do this alone.”

“Ivetta, you’ve lost your father three times. I’m not going to make it a fourth.”

“I’m not leaving you now, I can’t.”

“Look, maybe this is the end. There aren’t any more waypoints. Maybe we don’t even need this necklace. Maybe we could all just…go home. I can recharge the waypoints for Father Tobias and Ms. Mary. Then we’ll all be home and we can stay and live here after the other uses leave. We’ll be safe!”

“Something tells me that’s not going to happen.”

“The inquisition is still coming.” Tobias adds.

“The man who we know is not the real pope is still coming.”

Hollenzoller turns Ivetta’s attention back to him, imploring, “Honey, your mother and I have been waiting for this day for so long. We knew it would come but we didn’t know it would be so soon. But now that you’re back we can’t just let you leave.” She looks torn and confused.

“Wait, what happened to you? How did you…survive?” Castor asks, slightly suspicious but mostly curious.

“Survive? You mean the towers?” She nods

“I remember…pain. I remember something terrible happened to you, honey. But I see you are safe.”

“I’m fine, I promise. Something terrible almost happened but you— you saved me.”

I remember plunging a great depth. But after that… after that, I remember your mother. She helped me regain my senses. But I lost my memory. And I departed. Wandered for a time until I regained myself.”

“How did you end up here?” Castor asks.

“I found your mother again and we decided to hide here. It seemed a small enough realm, out of the way.”

“So the me here…she grew up with a dad. You.” Hollinzoller nods solemnly.

“I watched you grow up, kept my eye on you as well,” He looks pointedly at Castor, “but I kept out of the way.”  Ivetta is silent, contemplating.

“How small is this realm?” Tobias interjects in the lul.

“Smaller than your Germany if I remember correctly.”

“But bigger than the city.”

“Yes.”

“It is still dangerous of course, we must still hide our magic from those who took my life in your time.”

“I think that’s why we’re here…” Castor explains what they have done so far here and what it seems that they are meant to accomplish. The fake pope and her strange vision, everything. “Maybe you don't have to stay here in hiding. We could defeat this pope, not pope and you and your family could all live together somewhere else. Maybe that necklace is a waypoint and this is the end.”

Hollinzoller finally lets go of Ivetta, “I don’t know where it goes. I can't risk it. Not for my family's sake.”

Castor’s face turns to one of resolution,“Then we fight the imposter and you can stay here in safety, without the cardinal and this mysterious fake pope. The other Ivetta will return here but she won’t be the same…right? You don’t have to fight him. But you can be happy here, with your family Ivetta, that’s…that’s what you’ve always wanted.”

Hollinzoller ponders for a time, “that…can work. You will be safe here, Ivetta. I promise.”

Ivetta looks torn,“Dad I–– I was told to protect Castor. I can't just let her try to go fight this man by herself.”

He looks imploringly at her, “But— honey… I— your mother…”

Ivetta weeps but her voice is strong,“I have to do this.”

“I don't want to lose you again, Ivetta.” He brushes a stray hair behind her ear.

“I don't want to lose you either but—” She pauses. “Whoever this man is—” she begins.

But at the same time as he says, “I understand Ivetta—” He gives her a smile and says again, “I understand honey. And I can help you. I may be an old man but I still have some tricks up my sleeve.”

Castor is adamant, protesting, “No! No. No No. No way! You have a wife and two daughters, no!”

“I will not just sit idly by while my daughter fights some all powerful—”

Castor cuts him off, her voice raising, “We don't know that he is that. You can’t— I don’t want— I refuse to let you!”

“Castor…” Ivetta starts.

“No! No, I don’t want any of your help!” She backs away from them all toward the door. “I'm going to send you all home and let you all live happily with your families. I'll do this by myself.”

Ivetta protests, “Castor if this is Malum, you can’t—”

“We don’t know who he is or if we even have to fight him!”

Ivetta argues, “He tried to kill you!”

Castor falters, “Y-yeah. But that won't happen again.”

Ellen Mary pipes up, “Castor, we can't let you go alone. We— all of us, Ivetta, Tobias, Hollinzoller. We’re your family. Do you think we’re just gonna let you walk away?”

“But you all have a chance to be happy now. Go home. Be where you belong, with the people you love.”

“We love you too.” Ivetta says holding back tears, “you deserve happiness too.”

“I can’t be. There’s nothing left for me here. My mother will pass soon. Please, I’m— I’m trying to be nice, help you all go home.” She looks at each of them with watery eyes, landing and holding on Tobias last. “I know it's been what you've wanted all this time and now you won't let me.”

Tobais speaks slowly and purposefully, “if there is some great evil out there, Castor, and all of us go home to our respective realms and you go and fight it alone then we may enjoy 5–10 years of peace but if you fail, that peace won't last.” She sniffles, tears edge the rims of her eyes. “I choose to stay to ensure a lasting peace. For all realms.”

She holds his gaze as her younger self would not dare do, but the resolve cracks. The determination slips away, “....Damn you and your logic and your eloquently worded speeches.” Her voice cracks along with her stoic facade. “I… love you all.” And at last, she begins to sob. Ivetta wraps her in a hug, Castor pulls in Ellen, trying to hug everyone at once. She holds out her hand to the others. Hollinzoller joins the group hug and eventually… so does Tobias.

The still tied up cardinal does not join in.

Hollinzoller breaks off and says, “If you don’t want me to come with you, I can at least help you. Tell me what you need.”

“Could you manage a glyph perhaps?” Tobias asks.

“Of course, what do you need? I’ve had a long time to perfect that craft.”

Ivetta pipes up, “we need protection for Father Tobias. He doesn’t have magic like the rest of us.”

“Can you make it so I am more difficult to spot?”

“Yes. You’ll need to wear a cloak. Here,” he takes his cloak off. “Take mine.” He hands it to Tobias who nods in thanks.

“Where is your wife by the way.”

“She’s working. I know where she is, we keep in contact.”

“Alright because the last time she was missing…”

“She’s a mage too, you know.”

“Whaaaat?” Castor is astonished.

“Really?” Ivetta asks.

He smiles, “more powerful than me to be honest.” He turns away from their confusion to tell Tobias how the cloak works. Generalizing that it dissuades people from looking at him.

“Does it also have a shield, dad?”

“No but I can add one. I remember it being a problem on our many adventures.” He hands him a bible with a shield glyph.

“I just want to say I can shoot projectiles out of the air no problem. It’s when the magic comes in that there are…problems.”

“I was going to give this to you, Ivetta but you might need it more. Wait, that didn’t come out right. You know what I mean.” Hollinzoller says to Ivetta. It hits her that he’s speaking about her other self. “You have your blowpipe right? Put these in it.” He hands her some darts. “You can control them with magic. They will seek whatever target you choose and sap the life out of your target and continue doing damage if it remains in and shields don’t stop them.”  He turns to Castor, “Can I see your hammer?”

“Uh…yeah.” she hands it to him.

“I’m going to put a glyph on it if you’ll let me.”

“O-of course. You know what you’re doing.”

“When you smash down it will create a ring of fire around you, however high and far you want it to be within a certain radius.”

“Wow. That’s amazing! Thank you!”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about this.” He smiles but it turns serious again. “Now, you said this ‘pope’ is coming when?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Monday.”

“And I can’t use aschar because I’m here and will be for the next few days.”

“Well, you can lay low here but I see you have…is that the cardinal?”

Castor grows sheepish, “uh…yeah…”

“I assume someone must have noticed his absence by now.”

“We were going to disguise Father Tobias as him but that really didn’t work out. But we still have it, I suppose…”

“It was more important to get Castor out of the city.”

Hollenzoller says, “I could take his place.”

“It’s too dangerous.” Castor protests.

“It can be but I know the spells. Or I could cast it on Tobias or any one of you for that matter.”

“It might be better for the cardinal to greet the ‘pope.’ But I don’t like putting anyone that close.”

Tobias says, “I also would not be able to take the shot from on high.”

“Hollinzoller, do you know anything about this ‘pope’?” He shakes his head no. “What about this book then?” She holds up the book they stole from the office.

He looks through the book, flipping the pages. Then he squints and looks closer, tearing through the rest of it at speed before he snaps it shut. “This is mine.”

“What?”

“I lost it when I came to this realm many years ago. They must have found it. But now it is returned.”

“Take care not to lose it again. It has all our waypoints in it.”

“I’ll probably just burn it.”

“It looks like somebody tried.”

“We’ll likely have to wait for him to exit a carriage before we can even attempt to fight him. Probably in the cathedral courtyard. There are high vantage points that I can make a quick jump to the ground if I must move closer.”

“We don’t need to have a cardinal to receive the ‘pope’. So you should stay out of the action, Hollinzoller.” Castor says.

“I can’t lose you again.” Ivetta says to him.

“I trust I’ll see you again and I know you’ll be safe.”

“I promise I’ll tell you everything that’s happened some day.”

“I can’t lose you again either, Ivetta. You know I love you.”

“I love you too.” They embrace once more.

They begin to plan for the fight. Father Tobias and Mary plan to place themselves on top of a roof south of the cathedral. Hollinzoller makes a custom bullet for Tobias that will imbue a hex onto the person he shoots, draining his mana and dealing more damage. He uses the rest of his mana to do the spell so he returns to his home to sleep. Ivetta will place herself in cover atop the belltower to send her missiles at the ‘pope.’ Castor plans to mingle among the crowd, her magic masked and in disguise as a regular person so she can strike at close range.

Before they turn in for the night they see their counterparts exit Ivetta’s home a bit after dark. The four children clatter and make noise, one even falls down. Castor is thankful she told Hollinzoller to advise their younger selves to escape via the river and not the plague zone as she spots them heading away from the sickness.

They rise bright and early Monday and get into their positions. The crowd amasses and turn their heads as a dazzling carriage approaches. Strange outfitted men flank it. People follow the carriage, curious at the arrival. Ivetta covers her ears as they ring the bell, she climbs down a bit to escape the noise. She finds a peasant pulling the rope to ring them. She signals to him to stop. “They told me not to stop ringing!” He shouts back, unceasing. She hits him in the back of the head with her pistol and he falls to the floor.

The Swiss guard lines up in front of the carriage. The priests and red robed men stand before the cathedral. A priest brings a stool and puts it at the door of the carriage. The door opens and he emerges.

Red velvet gloves, the full papal garb, the crown, white flowing robes detailed with gold and gems adorn this man. Castor, being very close and among the thronging crowd, gets a very good look at him. To her shock and horror she realizes she knows exactly who this man is: The Quartermaster. From Jamestown. The first chati they’d ever encountered.

Just as she was able to jerk herself back to reality, Tobias takes the shot. (96 damage 42 mana drain). Ivetta shoots her shot at the same time, draining more of his mana. A whip crack sounds as the sound catches up to the sight. The pope falls to the ground, blood gushing onto the courtyard cobbles. The Swiss guard surround him and try to drag him inside. People scream and run about. Even some of the inquisitors turn tail and run.

Castor hops up on the carriage itself and leaps off slamming down her hammer and sending a fire ring into the surrounding guards and inquisitors. They turn to ashen statues before they blow away in the breeze. Castor towers over the fallen ‘pope,’ the sunlight cresting behind her, she looks down at him, “Long time no see, Quartermaster.”

She pushes him onto his back with her foot and pulls the necklace off of him. He looks up with terrified and hate-filled eyes. Tobias, Mary, and Ivetta join her. He gargles up blood, spraying it and painting his lips as he gasps, “you again!?” She puts her hammer on his chest, holding him in place.

“I thought we were done with you.” Ivetta says as she recovers from her own shock of seeing him.

“Fuck you kids!”

“I tried to spare your life and you stabbed me in the back.” Castor growls.

He only manages, “I—” before the light fades from his eyes and he dies.

“I feel a little bad now.” Castor admits.

“He was a horrible person.”

“Yes but aren’t you curious about why he’s here?”

“Castor, he mind-controlled an entire town!”

“But how did he become pope!?”

The waypoint buzzes in her hand. She turns her attention to it. “Well, we have it. It is buzzing rather hard though.”

“Maybe it has multiple uses.”

“Hollinzoller might know.”

“Well, there’s only one way to know where it goes.” Tobias says.

“Ivetta, do you want to stay here? With your dad?”

“Is it over?”

“I don’t know where this goes but your dad—” the waypoint buzzes more furiously. She tries to drop it but it sticks to her hand. “Ah!”

“Can’t we at least rest before we go?”

“Uh, apparently not. It's vibrating harder and it won’t come off!” Mary tries to pull it off but to no avail. “If you want to say goodbye to your dad, this is the time to go do it! I don’t know how much time we have!”

They sprint as fast as they can to her house. They make it to the front door and burst it open. Ivetta shouts, “I love you, dad!” before  Castor is forced to activate the waypoint.

They’re enveloped by the purple sphere and then it pops. They kerplunk onto the ground. Onto a dirt road. A dirt road that is rarely used. Surrounding the road is yellow and green grassland and Savannah dotted with odd trees. Not a building, vehicle, or people in sight. Their horses nicker next to them. After a few moments of being here, Castor realizes she doesn’t receive a vision. She looks to Ivetta in confusion.

TBC

Episode Thirty-Five: Descent