"Are you here, Cherubim?" Alfonso quietly asked. He was in what once had been the count's room. On one of the walls of the study were bookshelves. Crammed in between those was an image of the Virgin and Child.
With his head bowed down in front of the picture, a dry voice called out: "The representative of God asks you, the guardian of knowledge: How many of the true faith have been martyred?"
The answer came immediately. The voice was destitute. "Nine-hundred and twenty-nine, Your Holiness."
A person had appeared. He was standing behind Alfonso. The man stared into space with his pale eyes; it looked like he was reading writing in the sky. He started to read names as if it were a list. "Those who have been martyred as of today, December twenty-fourth, are as follows... From the monastery of Kassel: Brothers Alois Reuen, Otto Edoardo, Johan Batholemew, Karl Fritz, Adam Rust..."
Alfonso didn't know when the list of names might stop. He looked up to heavens and let out a deep sigh.
"Oh Lord, why?" He looked at the image of the Madonna and pleaded. "Why do you test us so? Why have you called so many of the faithful back to you? Why have you thrice sent those demons to us? We have already been pushed to this harsh northern climate. Are you not satisfied that our faith has been sufficient?"
Alfonso hung his head as he spoke, trying to understand why they had been challenged so much. He closed his eyes and opened his ears, but no answer came from the heavens. The marble Madonna and her beautiful child just kept smiling down at him. The only sound that came was that of the snowstorm, which had been raging since this morning.
"So this is the wonderment... The man-made information dwarf, Cherubim?"
Alfonso quickly raised his head. What was that? Where had it come from him?
The room was entirely deserted. He was the only person here. All of the priests should have been in the cathedral getting ready for midnight mass.
"Oh dear, did I surprise you?"
The same gentle voice chided Alfonso. It was a female voice. It almost sounded like a mother, reading a story to her child.
The voice echoed off the ceiling, sounding vindictive: "And this is what I am to expect from the man who flew a flag against Rome? Did you miscalculate the situation? Your dream of crushing AX and the Vatican is still but a dream. "
"Who are you?!" Alfonso twisted round, searching in the dim corners of the room for something. "Are you a man? Or a demon! Don't hide! Show yourself!"
"I am no demon. I am on your side, Alfonso d'Este. "
However, no female appeared in the room. It was a disembodied voice, resounding off the walls of the room.
"My name is Helga. Helga von Vogelweide. I am Rank 8-3 of the Rosenkruez Orden, named Ice Witch. I have come to warn you that you are in danger. "
"The Orden?!"
Hearing this name, Alfonso had frowned, doubtful. It was the terrorist group who had requested the destruction of Rome. But since their failure at Rome, he had not once spoken with the agent who went by the name of Kampfer. During the uprising in Rome, Alfonso had tried to contact him to no avail. Why were they here now?!
"Are you one of Kampfer's men?!"
"Yes, something like that." For a moment, the woman's voice seemed pained. Her next words returned to her normal tone of superiority: "This does not matter now, Alfonso. There is a great calamity coming. Do you know that the AX Agents who came this morning are conspiring?"
"Conspiring?"
"Yes." Ice Witch snorted a little. It reminded Alfonso of a cat, playing with a mouse. "The people of this town who were planning to use you as a hostage. . . Those three hundred citizens of Tallinn? They have already left now... Do you think they have just disappeared?"
When Alfonso frowned as the windows to the study were flung open by some unseen force, causing the cold air and the snow to flood into the room.
"They have left the city and are heading for the mountains. Those Roman dogs intend to evacuate the town and launch a major offensive against us. They intend to kill all those of the true faith."
"WHAT?!" Alfonso almost choked on the cold air that was beating on his face. His eyes wide with panic, he ran to the open window and looked down. It was Christmas Eve, but there was not a single light on in the snow-covered town, and the streets were deathly silent. In the distance, Alfonso could just about make out small points of light moving in the direction of the mountains. They were torches leading the people away from town.
"Without the residents of this town as a human shield, the Vatican will be able to unleash their full force. They probably intend to exterminate you all. "
Alfonso couldn't breathe.
Ice Witch chuckled. "Alfonso, are you going to sit there and wait for your death? Or. . . "