Chapter 52

The Inquisitors moved like synchronized dancers. "Father.." Dahli started but King Vayin raised his hand, cutting her off. He didn't want to hear what his daughter had to say, he'd made up his mind. The Kolotian was to die. Both Inquisitors took a step back with their hands still latched onto Ishar's arms. They brought forth their feet in a sweeping kick that hit Ishar at the back of his knees with enough force to knock over a horse cart. Ishar's eyes were on Vayin Vigon as his legs started to buckle.

Who is this man? Ishar asked himself as he hit the ground with his knees, his eyes still glued on Vayin. Where does he get the authority to end my life? Who gave him such authority? The Inquisitor to his left released one hand off his arm and dug it into Ishar's hair, pulling his head back and exposing his neck. Ishar's eyes faced the ceiling as his head got tagged back. He was directly under the mural of the man on the Telinete Rhino. Ishar looked into the man's eyes that were painted with a scarlet dye. He recalled a vision where he faced the man while dressed in blue armor, his hands trembling as he held on to a sword, watching as death edged closer to him, to claim him. With whose authority?

The red in the eyes.. The red in the eyes.. He knew to whom the hue came from. He could feel Her close by even as the Inquisitor to his right let go of his arm with one hand and dug it into his white garment, the hand emerged with a partly serrated white handled knife. The other Inquisitor's pull on Ishar's hair had his neck naked to the kiss of the blade his fellow Inquisitor held. Ishar's oncoming death had Meena's mark to it. It was organized, each killer playing his part in a systematic fashion that ensured less effort was expanded by his fellow killer. Swift and orderly. Every action aligned to its effect. There was no escaping Her. She existed everywhere. AND SO DID HE.

Ishar's eyes met with the steady blue's of the Inquisitor wielding the knife. The man's eyes met his without wavering and Ishar could see something about the man that paraded itself in the way he held the knife posed to slash deep and quick. The man regarded Ishar same as a farmer set to slaughtering his sheep. Killing was an easy task to him, he was so used to it that it no longer carried with it the excitement it once held. It was just a task in his list of things to do, something he carried out with the same conscious effort it took to breath.

Ishar's eyes flickered amber. The Inquisitor's eyes widened and his lips parted in mild surprise. "Do you breath in and out or out then in as you kill?" Ishar asked. The Inquisitor exhaled while leaning into Ishar with the knife but as he took in air he ended up choking on his saliva. As the Inquisitor opened his mouth to cough Ishar leaned towards the direction his head was being pulled while yanking his arm free of the Inquisitor on the right. The Inquisitor holding Ishar's arm and head stumbled as Ishar leaned into him.

The man had quick feet, he spread them and back peddled without letting go of Ishar's head and arm as Ishar pushed himself off his knees towards him. But as the Inquisitor focused on holding Ishar and not losing his footing. Ishar used his freed arm to bring his clenched fist in a swinging arc that connected with the Inquisitor's neck. The Inquisitor wheezed while letting go of Ishar, hands flying to his throat.

Ishar knew the other Inquisitor whose untimely cough had given him the window he'd needed to act was coming in behind him with his knife in hand. Ishar whirled to face the man and true enough, just as he turned he came face to face with the Inquisitor who had the knife raised in both hands, posed to strike. Ishar caught the man's wrists and the two of them locked in a test of strength with the Inquisitor looming over Ishar, forcing the tip of the blade to inch closer to the Kolotian.

"Its pointless to avoid what is inevitable, you will die here today as my King intends." The Inquisitor said, a vein bulged and throbbed across his forehead as the effort of trying to force the blade into Ishar showed.

Ishar laughed at the man's words which made the Inquisitor's face contort in rage, he let out a growl and pitched his whole weight behind the blade held between them. His teeth rattled and his pale skin showed blotches of red as he strained. Ishar laughed again as the Inquisitor's effort did nothing to overcome his grip on his wrists. "If it's my day to die then why are you the one showing fear?" Ishar asked and pushed the blade back an inch. "You're frothing as you strive to plunge the blade into me. Tell me Binorian, am I as weak as you presumed?" He pushed the knife further away.

"Forms of Empathy do not work on me." The Inquisitor answered.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ishar asked and pushed himself towards the Inquisitor with his hands tightening onto the joints connecting the Inquisitor's hands to his arms. The Inquisitor grunted in discomfort and the blade rose higher bringing their two's faces closer. Ishar titled his head back and slammed it into the Inquisitor's face. The Inquisitor's nose crunched and blood spewed from his nostrils.

Ishar leaned further forward and dug his teeth into the Inquisitor's bloody nose. He tasted the blood as his teeth sunk into flesh and with a growl of his own he ripped the Inquisitor's nose free of his face and spat it out. The inquisitor let out a scream that was oddly feminine. Ishar leaned back and rammed his head at the open wound that once held a nose. Blood smeared on Ishar's forehead, he laughed while hitting the screaming Inquisitor's face again and again with his forehead.

The Inquisitor let go of the knife and as the knife fell Ishar let go of the man's wrists and grabbed the knife mid-air by its handle. Without looking, Ishar spun the knife in a backward arc. It was a primal instinct that had alerted him to the presence of the other Inquisitor approaching from behind him, the Inquisitor was no longer interested in the idea of systemic combat. Emotions flooded his being and fueled his actions, he wanted Ishar dead and he had no care for how it was done. It is beautiful. Ishar thought as he spun. Blind rage is just beautiful.

The knife plunged into the Inquisitor's neck as the man lunged carelessly at Ishar, his momentum had him barreling into Ishar but the Kolotian was like a mountain before the tide. The Inquisitor stood leaning on Ishar for support, his hands wrapped around Ishar's neck with his legs turning into soft blades of grass that slid uselessly on the carpet as they failed to hold his body. Ishar ejected the knife from the man's neck and watched as the blood sprouted out in a stream. Ishar smiled and plunged the knife into the Inquisitor's wide eye.

Ishar turned around as the Inquisitor dropped to the carpeted floor. "Brother," said the nose less Inquisitor who knelt on the carpet with his face a bloody mess. Ishar walked towards him but the man did not seem to be aware of him. His eyes were on his gurgling brother whose seeping fluids matched the carpet. Ishar placed himself behind the Inquisitor, putting one hand on his bald head and the other on his shoulder. "Brother," the man said again.

"Look at him, bleeding like a dog on the ground, was it by your King's authority or my own?" Ishar asked.

"Brother." The Inquisitor said.

Ishar turned his eyes to King Vayin who was now standing. The tall King had his grey eyes on Ishar. His daughter stood beside him, her hand on his arm. Rehny had his black sword out as did the men in black leather armor. Ishar turned his attention back to the Inquisitor kneeling before him, he tilted the Inquisitor's head with the hand he had on it, exposing the side of the man's face. The Inquisitor's eyes were glued on the lifeless body with a knife sticking out of its eye three feet away.

Ishar could finish him, the man was too hypnotized with the death of his brother. He could easily finish him, it was the rational thing to do. But what does rationality mean? The rational route didn't feel right for him to trod on. Rationality was the path all Binorians walked on, it was in how they moved, acted and thought. Meena was as much a part of them as the sun was a part of the sky. But the moon was part of the sky too and in its fullness the mad wail and thrash against all forms of lucidity.

Ishar turned in the direction of the two thrones and started walking towards the staircase leading to the King whose eyes had turned crimson as he watched him approach. Behind Ishar the nose less Inquisitor remained kneeling, muttering the same word over and over. "Brother."

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