Demon Hunters

Conclusions, Part VI

Lucas pretended to take another sip from his drink to hide his mouth, which had twisted into a disgusted frown. If nothing else, this meeting had already reaffirmed Lucas's conviction to abolish and eradicate the clergy.

"I'm sensing a 'but'."

"How astute of you," Savelli replied, his voice thick with sarcasm. "I'm willing to help you – but that comes with a price."

"You do realize that you are in the middle of an enemy camp, do you not? What stops me from just torturing you to get your cooperation?"

The cardinal laughed, spilling some of his wine on the no doubt spectacularly expensive carpets that had been arranged on the tent's floor.

"Do you think the ones in the city will be willing to make any sort of deals with you after they discover that you have tortured me?" he said, a malevolent glint in his eyes. "No, violence will not help you here. You'd be better off making a deal here."

Lucas grunted in disappointment. The cardinal was right. He certainly could torture him, but what would that achieve? It was unlikely that the man would know enough to be useful and using someone they had tortured in negotiations was simply impossible. As frustrating as it was, Savelli held quite a bit of power even here – and the man was well aware of it, practically smearing the fact in Lucas's face.

"You act as if we cannot take the city without your help," Lucas said, forcing himself to stay calm.

"Oh, I'm sure you could – if you had enough time. But that isn't the case, now is it?"

Lucas clenched his fist. The man seemed to be unfortunately well informed, though that was to be expected with him knowing who Lucas was. He sighed. There would need to be a sweep for spies later on.

"Very well. At the very least, I'll listen to your proposal."

"Good to see that you have some sense in that head of yours," Savelli huffed, examining his well-manicured nails. "You see, I'm quite like you – I see that the tides are turning. And I'm not about to go down with the ship."

"You want to defect, then?"

"You could say so, if you wanted to, though I'd prefer to call my actions 'a necessary manoeuvre to save human lives'."

"I see," Lucas sighed. "What would your price be, then?"

Though it seemed that Lucas had been handed a way of salvaging the siege, a veritable deus ex machina, he couldn't help but feel disgusted by the prospect. After all, the man in front of him was the enemy, and making a deal with him would go against everything Lucas stood for.

"Oh, nothing too extravagant. Simply put, I want to ensure a secure position in the new world," Savelli said. "Though you might be able to stamp out the church in your lands, the spiritual needs of the people still need to be fulfilled – something I would be willing to see to."

"So you want to be the head of the new church?"

"More or less. It is a win-win for you, isn't it? Not only can you avoid a bloody and unnecessary siege battle, but you also gain me as an ally, someone who knows how a church needs to operate effectively."

So you want to re-create the same den of corruption this whole war was meant to clean up? Quite the deal, indeed.

Lucas swirled the wine still in his cup and stared into the ceiling of the tent. If he were to suggest this to any of the generals serving alongside him, they would agree in a heartbeat. The battle ahead was bound to be costly – both in material and manpower – so why not agree? Additionally, it was quite possible that the leaders of the reform would be happy to allow Savelli to act as the leader of the church that would replace the old one. He would most likely become a puppet, of course, but a very rich one, and Lucas was fairly certain that this was exactly what the cardinal was after. All in all, the deal was extremely beneficial for both parties – yet Lucas did not want to accept it.