Flames danced upon the torches hanging from the columns which held the upper aisle of the cathedral. From the balcony many nobles, richly dressed, assisted at the ritual. On the pulpit a woman with a crimson and purple ceremonial dress shouted an invocation towards Khoraet and, after a moment of concentration, plunged a golden dagger deep into the chest of a man who was tied to the altar. He was too drugged to realize what had happened and simply kept gazing in the priestess' eyes until his last breath.
All around, the faithful cherished in roaring but solemn choruses: "Kho-raet"
Upon the balcony a child was covering her ears with her hands. Her eyes shut in an effort to ignore whatever she was hearing.
Her father knelt beside her.
"Ariandel, did it happen again?"
She nodded.
"Come" Her father took her hand and led her outside the cathedral, between the scorned glances of the other nobles.
He knew that they were just waiting for him to make a false step and declare him a heretic and usurp his place as the matriarch's companion but he didn't pay them much attention.
The city was entirely built in a cave system and lit by fires placed at regular intervals along the streets. They sat on a stone bench in the courtyard of the cathedral then he looked around making sure no one could overhear them
"Did you figure out what the voices were saying this time?"
she was about to shake her head when, suddenly, she froze and slowly lifted her big silver eyes to look inside her father's
"One of them just spoke out of the chorus, it wanted me to get to the surface."
If her father's skin hadn't been so dark he would probably be pale as a ghost.
"Just promise me you won't do anything reckless"
She silently nodded.
One of the nobles walked out of the cathedral and stopped before Ariandel watching her in contempt then his gaze moved up to her father.
"Azoral, Why do you pay attention to this brat's whines. She's not even one of our kind. Don't you now that those rabid dogs who calls themselves nobles are only waiting for a pretext to bring you down."
He was the head of one of the big families who sat in the council of Kamaran, surprisingly for a dark elf, he was loyal enough to make him a valuable ally and Azoral knew that well when he contained himself from hitting his face. His clenched fist relaxed and became a friendly grip on the other man's shoulder.
"Vorvic, my friend, you do know why I care for her, beside the fact that she's my daughter. And concerning the other nobles they won't do anything as long as you are in charge of the city's guard."
"Oh, don't bring up the promise you made to that witch. She now lay dead and I can't keep protecting you forever"
He put a hand on Azoral shoulder and went on:
"Listen, I owe you much but I won't go down with you".
Vorvic turned around as Azoral kept following him with his eyes thinking about what he said until Ariandel pulled his sleeve bringing him back to reality.
"What was the promise?" Ariandel looked at him with curious eyes.
Azoral cursed under his breath and petted the girl's head "I can't hide anything from you, can I?"
Ariandel shook her head "So… what was it?"
He let out a sigh and let himself fall on the bench.
"Before I became a noble I was a scout in the army. One day I was told to find a path inside Valeren wood for our troops to cross it. As I ventured deeper and deeper and suddenly I found my self in another place. There I saw an elven woman her skin pale as moonlight she was drawing water from a nearby stream. I got hit in the head and when I woke up my memories were gone."
Azoral gently passed a finger upon a scar on his left temple and glanced at Ariandel. She was listening rapt in the story her gaze almost spoke 'go on'. When he was about to continue the noise of footsteps and the buzzing of voices announced the end of the ritual.
He stood up and silenced Ariandel's protests by putting a hand on her head "we'll continue another time."