His anger did little good. He was forced to remain there for another ten minutes until finally the gates opened a crack. 'Approach carefully,' a voice warned.
Mallory walked forwards until he could see between the gates. The entire Blue squad waited on the other side, armed with swords and crossbows, a Second World War-era rifle and shotguns. 'What is wrong with you?' he shouted.
The gates were flung open and the Blues surged out and around him. Some ran to the back of the truck. 'He's telling the truth,' one of them shouted back. 'There's an injured knight here.' They picked up Miller's stretcher and rushed it into the compound. Mallory was roughly manhandled inside, too, his protestations ignored. The gates slammed shut immediately behind him, heavy bars drawn across solemnly to seal it.
Mallory looked at these new defences, then at the faces of the Blues. What he saw there made him wary. 'What's been going on here?' he asked.
No one would talk to him, and after a while he gave up asking questions and concentrated on the worries rattling through his mind.
From the gate he was led across a cobbled courtyard through a sturdy oak door with cast-iron fittings into a long stone corridor that hadn't been there days earlier. He had to tell himself again that he wasn't back in the Court of Peaceful Days, for there was something about the architecture that reminded him of that place, although the mood was significantly different.
Under heavily armed guard, they rushed him across tapestry-hung halls and up winding staircases to a debriefing room where he was thrust into a chair with two crossbows trained on him, as if he were not a knight at all, but a spy ready to betray the entire religion. After half an hour Blaine entered, looking tired and irritable. Behind him marched Stefan, proud and resolute. Mallory had had his doubts about the chancellor ever since he had heard the grim relish in Stefan's voice when he told James that the library was off limits; his appearance there only confirmed Mallory's suspicions.
'What's happened to this place?' Mallory blurted.
Stefan eyed him suspiciously before retreating to a corner to watch like a raptor, his hands clasped behind his back.
'All the new buildings,' Mallory continued. 'Where did they come from? You couldn't have built them-'
'Where have you been?' The harsh tones of Blaine's Belfast accent were even more pronounced. His very demeanour threatened violence. 'And where did you get that sword?'
'I found it,' Mallory said, making light of the weapon. 'We can never have too many swords, right?'
Mallory explained what had happened at Bratton Camp, but said nothing of the Court of Peaceful Days. 'I was badly injured, on my last legs,' he continued. 'I was wandering for days before I summoned the strength to make it back here.'
Blaine's eyes narrowed. 'I'm surprised you did come back here.'
'Despite what you might think, Blaine, this is the place for me,' Mallory lied. The tension was palpable and he wasn't going to take any risks speaking his mind. 'Did the others make it back?' he asked.
'You're the fourth, counting Miller.'
'Who's missing?'
'Hipgrave.' Blaine peered down into Mallory's face. 'Any idea what happened to him?'
Mallory thought of the severed hand. 'That thing must have got him-'
'Or you could have killed him in the confusion.'
'I'm not going to kill one of our own!' Mallory protested.
Stefan's light cough was a signal for Blaine to step back. 'Events have overtaken us while you were away,' Stefan said, with a smile so insincere that Mallory couldn't believe he was even attempting it. 'There are forces in this world… forces of the Adversary… ranged against a resurgent Church. He knows we are once again on the path to be the Guiding Light of the world, and he is prepared to do anything to destroy us.' He made a strange hand gesture as he attempted to choose the right words. 'Security is paramount. We cannot afford for our defences to be breached. We have to be sure you are still guided by the Glory of God.'
'I'm telling the truth.' Mallory looked from Stefan to Blaine and back, now even more unsettled.
'We've got people who can tell if you're who you say you are,' Blaine said coldly.
'Who I say I am?' he echoed incredulously.
'To ensure you have not been corrupted by your encounter with the dark forces,' Stefan corrected.
Mallory didn't understand their meaning, but the way they were saying it brought a trickle of cold sweat down his back.
'We held a grand synod,' Stefan continued, 'and took the advice of some of our Catholic brothers in establishing a new and very limited order of Inquisitors of Heretical Depravity. It has served Rome well for many centuries.'
'The Inquisition?' Mallory said in disbelief.
'Oh, don't be put off by Godless propaganda or stories of medieval excess,' Stefan replied. 'The name 'Inquisition' merely comes from the Latin verb inquiro — to inquire into. There is nothing menacing about that at all. It is simply a way of gaining information through intensive questioning. By testing the defendant, if you will, through a trial of inquiry.'
Stefan attempted to sound dismissive, but Mallory could tell what kind of Inquisition the chancellor had in mind, and it wasn't the essentially benign one that the Catholic Church had maintained throughout the twentieth century. Stefan's medieval turn of mind was plain for all to see. 'Cornelius agreed to it?'
Stefan bowed his head. 'The bishop is not well. The Lord watches over him, but his strength is fading fast. He is in no position to be concerned with the minutiae of the Church's day-to-day running. Our spiritual needs are all that matter to him.'
'Have Daniels and Gardener been put through this?' The brief silence gave him his answer.
'This is the proper course of action. We need to be sure there aren't fifth columnists working against us within the brethren.' Blaine sounded as if he was trying to convince himself. 'This Church is the only good thing going in this world. There are a lot of people depending on us. We have to do what we can…' He realised his rambling was giving away his true thoughts and so he repeated, but with different meaning, 'We have to do what we can.' Mallory could see he was speaking from the heart: he believed completely in what he was doing — a soldier chosen to defend the Faith with any means necessary, however unpleasant.
'What is it?' Mallory still didn't accept the implication of what they were saying. 'The rack?'
Stefan looked horrified, although there was no heart in the reaction. 'Good Lord, what do you take us for? We have chosen men of integrity for this vital role, devout men who will ask the correct questions, that is all.'
Mallory looked at Blaine; Blaine looked away.
Stefan turned to go, obviously eager not to be tainted by the unpleasantness that lay ahead. At the door he said, 'Blaine was right, Mallory — this is a good thing. Everything we do is for the survival of the Church and the greater Glory of God. Answer with your heart and all will be well.' He swept away.
Blaine paused at the door. 'This isn't personal, Mallory. I think you're an untrustworthy bastard who needs to be kept in line, but I can do that myself. This is about something bigger… keeping the Church safe. I have a responsibility here and I'm going to see it through.'
'That's all right, then,' Mallory said acidly.
A flicker of the old hardness shone in Blaine's eyes. 'You're too smart, Mallory. We don't need your type here. We need people who obey, who take orders. That's what the whole fucking religion's about.' The flare of anger had already lost its edge when he was only halfway out. 'Just tell the truth, Mallory. Don't make any rods for your own back.'
Ten minutes later, three men walked in. They had the smart haircuts and mundanely handsome faces of catalogue models, so bland there was something resolutely sinister about them. Mallory could see instantly why they had been chosen: their floating irises and dead eyes gave away their penchant for dirty jobs.
The leader, the inquisitor-general as he introduced himself, was called Broderick. He was wiry with red hair and a pasty, papery complexion. His smile was so fake Mallory wanted to wipe it off with one blow.
He took Blaine's advice and answered truthfully, but they still punctuated their questions with hard knuckles just to let him know they could. At first they asked him about the mission and any encounters he might have had with 'the forces of darkness'. Eventually, though, they merely asked him to repeat the Lord's Prayer. Mallory got it
