Chapter 3: The Testament of the lovely Sister Marionette, Chapter One

We were returning from a mission trip, nothing special, I merely was needed to help train nuns coming into a new convent in the third circle. It was a pleasant  trip the annoying task aside, till an Inquisitor came knocking on the door of our private cabin. 

“There seems to be a bit of an issue in the passenger car Sister!” a panicked voice spoke through a filtered mask.  

I glowered at him with sharp eyes, my gaze piercing through him. “And are you unable to tend to these issues? Are the inquisitorial officers so inept they would need a Nun to fight their battles?”

 “I am sorry to bother you with this sister Marionette, I am a new recruit and, well there seems to be a Witch involved,” the inquisitor’s voice cracked as he shifted himself under the weight of my scowl.

“A witch is the duty of the Inquisition, have you not trained for this?” I snapped at him, causing him to whimper. “If the train were beset by Malefic, only then are my services needed, for anything less, handle it yourself!” 

“Ye, yes Sister Marionette!” he stammered and poorly attempted the customary salute, before running back to the connected car. 

“They accept just about anyone into the Inquisition now it would seem,” a horse laugh creaked from the throat of an ornately dressed elder.  

“The standards do indeed seem set too low now, back in my day only the most elite of soldiers made it as an Inquisitor,” a handsomely decorated general laughed along.

“Yo Marionette, is it really a nuns place to berate an Inquisitor? They have the Goddess on their side don’t they?” A third, younger and more modest looking man piped in. 

“To fight for the Church is the very definition of having the Goddess on your side,” I argued, “or do you not agree?”

“It is true that ours is a holy crusade, but being backed by the Goddess in ideals does not quite translate into the demonic powers a nun possesses,” the handsomely decorated man, General Radbury, said, "you fight sinners by sinning, and find absolution in your service."

“Ah yes, but how much greater it would be would we have no need to rely on the nuns to fight the horrors of the waste,” the eldest man said.

“I don’t think you’re giving her enough credit, minister Bosk, it takes character to repent of witchcraft and devote your talents to serving the Goddess, at least I think so,” the youngest man speculated with a chuckle.

“Yes Delun, that is a good point,” the elder, Minister Bosk, agreed, “though it is not a bodyguard’s place to wax philosophical with his master.” He laughed, “your rank hardly appoints you the divine position of, say that poor inquisitor fellow.”

 “It is the contents of your hearts that keep you from true divinity,” I stated.

“I believe you give me too much credit then, Sister Marionette, I’d hardly call myself as virtuous as you,” Delun replied, the sarcasm not missed on me.  

“My dear boy, it is not wise for you to speak out of place with this nun,” Bosk chuckled, “Knowing that she is the ‘Lightning Witch’ and could very well singe you to the bone before ever drawing that fancy blade of yours.”

Delun recoiled slightly, and cleared his throat. He glanced at me sideways, a droplet of sweat running down the side of his face. However, I did not care about his words one way or another, and so I stayed silent, though perhaps that threatened him more. Our conversation would not continue any further, as the commotion in the next car seemed to reach our own.

“Valuables in the bag!” a man shouted as he pulled open another passenger’s cabin door, and the cry of a noblewoman could be heard in response.  

“It would seem that the Inquisitors aboard this train truly were not up to snuff, won’t be long before they come barging into our room,” Radbury chuckled while sipping tea.

“Are you not at all concerned that they disposed of at least two guards and an inquisitor?” Delun questioned the seasoned general.

“Come now boy, surely you’ll do your job and protect us, and if not then Sister Marionette will have to do it for you.” Bosk roared in horse laughter, slapping his bodyguard on the back.

I sat there silently, my eyes closed, to the others I probably appeared deep in prayer, or just merely sleeping. The commotion in the train car made the latter unlikely, though I am no stranger to sleeping on a battlefield. Radbury was a general, Delun a talented fighter entrusted to protect a high ranking official of the church, and I was the Lightning Witch, there was no reason for me to worry. More people screamed as the robbers burst into the private cabins and demanded them to hand over their possessions. Slowly they could be heard getting closer to our own door. Delun placed his hand on the hilt of his blade, readying himself to draw it the moment the thieves burst in. Radbury continued to sip his tea, and Bosk began to look over some documents he had on him. It had seemed no one was taking the situation very seriously. Suddenly the door swung open and a towering bandit, with horns and hoofed feet, muscled his way into the room. 

“Money in…” he didn’t even finish his sentence before a small projectile pierced his trachea. Without even opening my eyes, I had drawn my firearm and shot the man. My silent pistol had managed to kill the lowlife with very little blood shed, a terrifyingly efficient gun, more suited to an assassin than a guardian. The robber’s body dropped, as he squeaked out a death rattle, and spilled the contents of his sack on the floor. 

“Oh quite busy these men were,” Bosk said with a whistle, “it seems they’ve gotten quite the collection from the others.”

“There’s more bandits, I’ll take care of them!” Delun announced, as he leapt from his seat beside Bosk.  

I raised my hand to stop him. “It is not your job to protect these civilians, but to watch over Lord Bosk.” 

“Yeah but something has to be done,” he objected.

“And something shall be done.” Sighing, I rose from my seat. 

I stepped into the car’s main passage and saw three more robbers going through the personal cabins. Aiming my gun with one hand, and holding a card in the other, I chanted, “Rafa with your bolts, guide my bullets to strike their mark!” Upon pulling the trigger a bolt of lightning erupted from the gun and carried a single bullet through the three targets. The scum fell dead without ever even knowing who had killed them. I marched to the car’s main door, and passed through to the next passenger car. 

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It had seemed there were two more men in this car, along with a foppish older woman. “The boys in the second class car are dead!” One of the men called out to her.

Before she even had a chance to respond, I shot another lighting bullet, killing the bandit closest to the woman, and quickly followed up with a second shot, taking out the man who had just spoken. Before I could unleash a third attack the woman cackled and sent a bolt of flame in my direction.

“Oh a church Witch? You should put up more of a fight than that pathetic inquisitor I would hope,” the bandit witch cackled. 

“The boy was inexperienced, I assure you that will not be the case with me,” I exclaimed, dodging out of the fireballs path. Hiding behind a seat for cover I reloaded my gun, while the witch began to riddle the wall behind me with bullet holes.

 “Rafa, guiding shot!” I sprang up from cover and pulled the trigger, a bolt of lightning taking the bullet and zipping it straight towards its target. A wall of flame erupted, the witch cackling from behind it’s protection,

“That’s all you’ve got? A silly gun trick? The church’s lap dogs have duller fangs then I could even imagine!” The flames began to subside and a fiery woman, with scorpion like features, stood beside the old hag, “Azae torch this stupid bitch!” 

The flaming familiar rose into the air, the flames around her growing, the train car creaking and groaning as if the heat were about to melt it’s metallic walls. Sweat poured down my face, nearly blinding me as it streamed into my eyes “You can hide from a bullet, but you can’t hide from the flames!” The old witch hacked.

“We need to do something, my love,” Rafa spoke from her carta, “may I suggest using the environment to your advantage.” 

I looked around, the floor of the car was wooden, the seats bolted into the walls. I would have attempted to peer over at my assailant, but as I  raised my head from behind cover, she immediately fired her machine gun. “It would appear no good, the inside of the train car is insulated, and it so happens there’s no sprinkler system in place, on this outdated train car.”

 “The order needs to update the express line, fire is a real hazard,”  Rafa joked, trying to make light of our situation. 

“Honestly just give it up!” The witch yelled, “I’m growing tired of this standoff, you haven’t even consummated your contract with your familiar, do you honestly think you can win this?”

“Our contract may be incomplete, but I trust in the power Rafa provides me!”  I yelled out.

“It would be nice if you had more access to the powers I provide, damn the church for forbidding it,” Rafa cursed.

“Even so, the power you give to me is more than enough. I will exercise the Goddess’ will, as the church demands,” I leaned back against the seat, the heat taking its toll. 

“My love, you are growing weary” Rafa said, “perhaps we should try and fall back?” 

“And do what? She will just pursue us, where there will be more innocent lives put in danger.” I wiped the sweat from my head, and laid my hand down on the ground, where I discovered something. Wine bottles, about three of them, on the floor sitting beside me. “It would appear a lush occupied this seat, Goddess smiles upon us.” I grabbed the three wine bottles and threw them in the air, “Rafa guide my bullet!” I called, and the three wine bottles burst. their content sprayed along the floor and walls, soaking even the witch bandit.

“Stupid nun, what did you hope that the alcohol would ignite? I have total control over the flames you dumb bitch!” the witch laughed. 

“Rafa lightning grasp!” I slammed my hand on the floor, lightning enveloping it. The electricity followed the trail of wine to the bandit witch and sent an electrifying current through her body.

 “Lady Beatrix!” her familiar called out and turned to try and aid her. At that moment I sprung from cover and shot one last bullet, square between the witch’s eyes. The fire familiar dissipated as her partner’s life faded away.

I approached her dead body, and searched for her familiar’s carta. I took it contemplating ripping it up, but Rafa stopped me, “It’s useless, you can’t destroy a carta. However a familiar is bound by its contractor, once the bond is severed she is free to form a new contract. Perhaps you could bond with her as you did with me?”

 “The church forbids it,” I said, stowing the card in my bodice, “though perhaps she can be passed on to a new nun.”

“Well what do we have here?” Delun whistled, stepping over a dead bandit, “they sure did a bloody number on these poor folks.”

“You are supposed to be protecting Lord Bosk, what are you doing?”

“I came to check up on you, but it looks like you’re already done here,” he said, kicking the bandits corpse, “so their leader was really a witch after all huh?”

“Yes, I have dealt with her, now it is just a matter of finding survivors among the cars,” I replied curtly, “you should return to the minister, I will finish up here.”

“I am honor bound to protect him,” he said with a hint of sarcasm, “but I am also honor bound to protect the weak,” he added. “Besides, we’re the first passenger car, so it’s not like any bandits are going to be coming from ahead, only from further back, right?”

I sighed, “I suppose that is correct,” 

“Great, so let’s get going!” he said, heading off into the car ahead.

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