Bargain of Shadows
Chapter 2
The white-robed figure threw back the white hood and raised the strange wooden mask revealing a male face. His close-cropped hair and eyebrows were snowy white, and white-gray stubble covered a strong jaw though strangely, his face was as smooth as a young man's. His pale blue eyes regarded them calmly and kindly, odd for someone who had just tried to kill them. The man stopped a short distance from them, obviously wary of coming too close.
"I have to admit," Kaarn snarled, "you've courage to stand there staring at us."
"I wish to… apologize for my actions," the old man said. He seemed faintly embarrassed, an odd stance to take to the presumed victims of his summoning.
"This had better be good, he had no cause to attack us," Kaarn muttered to Alessa.
"Hush," the redhead ordered. Turning to the man in the robe, she said, "I am sorry too, believe me. I can understand objecting to strangers, but this…?" She gestured vaguely at the pile of stone that was the fallen colossus then stared. The stone had lost its sharp edges, rounding until it seemed it had lain there for months instead of a few scant minutes. Tiny shoots of grass were already sprouting all over it, soon it would look like no more than another oddly shaped hill. "What was that thing?"
"We call it a colossus," the old man replied. "An ability we have gained in this place of intersecting points. A guardian from the will of the people and the bones of this land to prosecute a just cause."
"Some cause," Kaarn said.
"I believed you to be a threat," the man replied before Alessa could call Kaarn to task again.
"How do you know we're still not threats?" Kaarn persisted.
"Because your friend spotted the Vitals."
"Vitals? You mean that glowing symbol on its head?" Alessa asked.
"Yes, if you truly meant to sin against this land or the people in it, you would not have seen them. They resonate with the purity of your spirits. As a shaman of my people, it is my duty to guard this land. Despite my training, unfortunately, I can make a mistake as much as anyone," the old man offered quietly.
"Who are you?" Alessa asked, mystified.
"My name is Mordelon. I—but perhaps we should tend to your friend first," the old man said gesturing to the sleeping Ryu. "I have some skill at healing though I have no special abilities to speak of."
"Do you honestly think—" Kaarn began.
"Stop," Alessa said, using the command voice her family had taught her long ago. "Kaarn you know as well as I do he's not going to try and hurt us anymore. We know how to deal with the kind of wounds you get on the battlefield but I don't know much more than that."
She locked eyes with Kaarn for a moment, blue eyes meeting dark brown before he gave way with a nod. "I suppose it's all right."
"Thank you," the old man said. Approaching Alessa and Ryu, he knelt and placed one hand on Ryu's forehead and the other on Ryu's chest then smiled after a moment. "Your friend will be fine – I believe he is just exhausted. However, there are some herbs I know of that will restore his strength more quickly. If you would come back with me to my home, I have a small supply of them that I can prepare to treat him." The old man shook his head. "I have never heard of anyone slaying a Colossus."
"We did it together," Alessa said. "The three of us have been partners a long time. Thank you for offering to help. I'm Alessa by the way."
"My name is Kaarn," her friend said, then added, "Shouldn't one of us go get the horses? I'm sure they wouldn't stick around with that colossus running around."
"That should not be a problem," the shaman answered with an enigmatic smile. "In fact, I'm sure they'll be showing up any minute now."
"You're calling them somehow, aren't you?" Alessa said arching a brow at the shaman.
"Yes," the shaman replied. "With the power of this place, such things come as a matter of course. You have cloaks I see. We should wrap your friend in those to keep him warm. It would make no sense to discomfort him while he rests."
Alessa nodded while Kaarn removed his own cloak as well as Alessa's and with the shaman's help wrapped Ryu closely in them just as the sound of hooves on stone rang out. Looking up, Alessa saw their three horses Argo, Nico and Kaarn's mare trotting up to the shaman. She was astonished at their calmness and the ease with which the shaman handled them. Normally they would have been uncomfortable if any strangers had handled them but either something in his training or the powers he wielded seemed to relax them. Alessa recalled that they had not been as scared of the colossus as she had thought and wondered again about the strange land they found themselves in.
Rather than tie Ryu to Nico's back, Kaarn volunteered to steady him against his own mount as his mare was the least tired of the three. The shaman gave them another surprise when he mounted Nico, who submitted to him instantly with a word and a few touches. The shaman guided them to the southwest, somewhere close to what he claimed were a distant line of cliffs though they were barely a smudge on the horizon. The journey would take a few hours at most as the shaman warned them to skirt the giant temple widely.
"Trust me, you do not wish to enter the Shrine of Worship," he said warningly. "It has an evil reputation and even I do not go there accept at certain times and for very specific reasons that I do not need to tell you."
"But who built it?" Alessa wondered. "It's so huge, I've never seen anything that size before."
"There you would be delving into legend, young lady," the shaman replied with a chuckle. "My family has produced many shamans for my people but we do not know how it was built. The presence of the Shrine is always taken for granted even in our oldest tales. Some believe it was here when the world was crafted though I am not one of them. Despite its reputation it is still a marvel. I often forget how it would look to eyes unaccustomed to it."
"It looks like there are carvings all the way up it," Kaarn said.
"Indeed, and gardens almost to the summit," the old man agreed. "But come, let us speak of something else. I confess I am uneasy speaking of it more than need be. Tell me how you entered the land, we have long believed the way was sealed so none but us could find it."
"We nearly did miss the entrance in the cliffs. There was a path down to the desert when we came out of them," Alessa said.
"You said those hills were a bridge?" Kaarn prompted.
"I did," the shaman answered calmly. "They used to form a bridge from the ledge in the cliffs a door halfway up the shrine. The pillars were as thick as the ones you saw near the temple all made of green and white stone. Legends say it shone beautifully in the sun."
"When did it fall?" he asked.
"It didn't, or not precisely," the shaman answered. "At least, we have been taught that it was meant to collapse to seal away this land from casual outsiders—like yourselves."
Riding silently, both Alessa and Kaarn studied at the ridges on either side of them that dotted the plain behind the great temple. The cliffs were more visible now, she could see what looked like excavations and ruins high up in them but when she commented on them to their guide, he only said that they predated the presence of his people in the land. The sun was setting now, and the shaman turned more directly southwest towards a larger blot that resolved into a forest. There were strange pillars and walls joining them placed on hills on either side of the entrance to the forest. Alessa thought they looked like some kind of strange watchtower or fort but the old man professed ignorance as to their purpose.
"You have to understand," he said, "There are many ruins in this land and they were made before my people dwelt here. We build in wood rather than stone, you see."
As they rode on, Ryu remained dead to the world and wrapped in his friends' cloaks. Alessa occasionally shot worried looks at him, but he didn't seem to be getting any worse and she allowed herself to relax a little bit.
When the passed between the watch towers, Alessa saw the abrupt beginnings of a forest nestled between the rocky hills. Just under the eves of the forest however, was a small two-room hut made out of wood with a stone base a meter high. There was a woodpile next to the house, and a small well in front of it. The travelers dismounted, Alessa helping Kaarn carry Ryu while the shaman spoke quietly to Nico. Then when he let the horse go, Nico calmly walked to one of the trees and started idly exploring the area.
"Let me guess, they won't be running away if we let them go, will they?" Kaarn asked.
Their guide shook his head. "There is nothing to threaten them here and there are nearby streams and plenty of grass. Go on inside and let me speak to your other mounts. You may set your friend down on the pallet in the back room."
Alessa and Kaarn did so, carefully placing Ryu and had only just sat down in the main room on some stools when the shaman came in. The shaman calmly removed the mask and tabard and hung them on pegs set into the wall. The small cottage seemed well made with hardly any cracks between the wood and the shutters tightly set into the windows. While Alessa and Kaarn sat quietly, they watched him bustle around the small cottage, brining up the fire and putting a pot of water on as well as breaking out some small wooden cups and pouring them some wine. He handed them the cups and turned back to the small stone counter set against one wall and began to sort through several small bags set on the shelf above the counter.
"Are those the herbs for Ryu?" Alessa asked the shaman.
He nodded, saying, "Yes, hopefully your friend will wake up in time for dinner. I do not often have guests but I have enough for now."
"Do you just pick the fruit in the forest or something?" Kaarn wondered.
"No," he answered as he mixed the herbs. "The villagers bring me food as a way of repaying me for the services I provide them. Presumably It frees one to think great thoughts—which is frequently done best with ones eyes closed." He smiled a tiny smile and Alessa blinked surprised. She hadn't expected the shaman to have a sense of humor.
The shaman went into the other room to deliver the mixture down Ryu's throat. There was a coughing sound from the other room as well as a curse and both travelers grinned at each other before getting up and hurrying to Ryu's side. Their friend was awake again, glaring at Emon with a suspicion that partially ebbed when he saw Alessa and Kaarn.
"What's going on, why are we with this old man?" he demanded.
"Relax Ryu," Kaarn ordered. "Apparently he didn't know he wasn't supposed to kill us."
"We've got purity of spirit!" Alessa put in.
"Purity of spirit? Us!" Ryu gaped.
"I know!" Alessa laughed. "But we didn't come here to hurt the people living here so that's good enough."
"Indeed, as I apologized to your friends, I do so now to you. I am a shaman for my people and charged with their protection. If you can stand, please come into the other room so we can share a meal. It's the least I can do for my transgression."
"What do you two think?" Ryu asked.
"I'm hungry at least," Kaarn replied with a grin. "I don't think there's any threat from an old man, especially with the three of us. He can't summon another one of those things that fast anyhow."
Ryu, his dark bronze skin looking decidedly pale, nodded. Shoving a hand through thick black hair, he looked up at the old man.
"Then I accept your apology and I'd be happy to partake of your hospitality," he replied formally.
The old man simply nodded and went back into the other room leaving the three alone. His friends helped Ryu stand up and only a short while later they were in the main room sitting on small stools and eating a supper mainly of plants. These included fruits, some odd bread and several vegetables that the three of them had never seen before. The meal was surprisingly tasty and coupled with the excellent wine that their host provided them with, Ryu felt much better.
"So…" he began at last while the four of them relaxed in the small cottage, lit only by the dying embers of the fire. "…How did you summon a colossus?"
"I am not sure how much I shall tell you," the shaman replied. "It will suffice to say that when we fled to here, the land fought us and strange and inexplicable calamities beset our people until death was our only refuge. Yet the world outside promised more of the same. In desperation, the shaman climbed Shrine of Worship and made the pact that binds my people to this day.
"If we committed no violence against each other and did not sin against the land, we would be protected and prosper. To that end, a shaman was selected to be separate from the people and given power to summon Colossi. If the summoning was just they would defend us and the land itself would help us survive. We have kept that pact."
"How long ago was that?" Alessa asked.
"We care little for time here," the shaman replied with a smile. "It has been generations I assure you."
"So this place is always peaceful?" Kaarn asked.
"I do not believe any place where men dwell can ever be fully peaceful but such as we are, we do try to keep it that way," the shaman answered.
"Do you know anything about events outside this place?" Ryu wondered.
The old man shook his head. "We hear occasional rumors from outside but they are always of wars and calamity. That is why we never bothered to make a decent road from the ledge."
"Then you don't know," Alessa whispered exchanging a look with Kaarn.
"About what?" the shaman asked.
"About the--" Kaarn began but Alessa placed a hand on his arm.
"It's not something they should trouble with, Kaarn. I wouldn't feel right bringing them into it even that much. Let me just say, shaman, that I don't believe your people are in any danger.
"Our chieftan resides a short way beyond this forest in the south at a town we call Canossa. I do not believe you mean harm, but I do think you should speak with him."
"Then we should," Ryu said firmly. "Would tomorrow be fine?"
"Yes," the shaman replied, visibly relieved. "You have had quite a day, and I think we should get an early start."
"Then we'll sleep out here if you don't mind. I'm feeling better and I wouldn't want to take your room," Ryu said.
"That is very kind of you," the shaman said with a bow.
The three of them got out their own bedrolls and blankets while the shaman entered his own room. Yet even though they lay down, Ryu couldn't sleep and he turned over on his side to find Alessa staring at him, her eyes shining indigo in the low light and a worried look on her delicate features. Frowning, he edged a little closer to her.
"You're worried," he whispered.
"Yes," she replied in a low voice. "Something's wrong. I don't know what but I can feel it."
"Him?"
"I don't think so," she replied. "It's just… this place seems so peaceful at least, on the surface. I'd hate to bring something down on it but I think that's just what we're doing. I couldn't take that, not this soon."
"There won't be an army coming in here chasing after us. We're not that important," he answered. "Don't worry Alessa, you'll have plenty of time to make smart remarks at my expense.
"You killed a Flag General!" the girl persisted.
"I'm one person."
Alessa just stared at him angrily, her mouth in a disapproving line ignoring the tangles of hair that fell around her face. Then she abruptly turned away from him. Ryu's mouth twisted but he let the feeling of irritation go and rested on his back looking up at the ceiling of the cottage. Though he tried, Alessa's worries kept creeping up in his head and sleep was a long time coming. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something they were missing.
In the morning the shaman woke them early saying that he wanted to reach the village of Canossa by noon and they had some ground to cover. The travelers sighed, and even though Ryu felt stiff and sore all over, they were in the saddle quickly. The shaman had been right, the horses had stayed close all night and seemed well rested and even frisky.
"They certainly recovered fast," Kaarn exclaimed in surprise when he mounted up. "Been a while since Wander felt this happy."
Despite being restricted to the walking pace of the shaman, the journey was uneventful and almost preposterously idyllic with birds chirping and the rising sun eventually casting the forest floor into patches of sunlight broken by traceries of leaves. After just over an hour of heading south, they turned west and left the forest riding between some hills and over another rock bridge into a cave.
Once out of the cave, they emerged onto a rocky plateau with a slope falling unevenly to the plain below with a golden glow farther to the southeast that the shaman explained was a desert. He led them southwest carefully down through the stony hillside until they had reached a much flatter plain. In the distance they could see a dark blot and some white smoke rising.
"That is Canossa, the chief village here," he explained. "There are others of course, but they are far smaller, collections of families more than anything else."
As the shaman led them across the plains, the village slowly began to resolve but before that, they noticed a taller structure in the midst of it. It seemed to be made of green-gold stone, and it rose a dozen meters above the plain.
"What is that? The building," Kaarn asked.
"Ah, that is the Save Shrine," the old man replied. "They are actually rather numerous in this land though the one near where you entered has crumbled away. I do not know their original purpose, but we have entered this one and recorded our history on the walls."
"I thought you didn't care about time," Kaarn said.
"The time between, no. But we care about our ancestors and about events," their guide replied. "What good is recording empty years without the deeds that were done in them?"
As they approached Ryu realized that the village of Canossa was rather large. Hundreds of people must have lived down there near the shrine that seemed to be located in the center of town. The houses were mostly wood though bits of stonework showed through as well. The houses weren't haphazardly strewn about either as most of the places Ryu had been. The Save Shrine itself was located on a tall ridge several times the height of a man, above the city. The buildings closed to it seemed to have more stone and tile roofs compared to the thatch of the buildings below it. The lower ones also seemed to be residences with washing hanging out to dry, and small vegetables gardens. From what he could see, they also seemed to be built in a rough half circle, with a thick line extending south to the mountains.
"The upper buildings are places of administration, commerce and industry," the shaman answered when he asked. "Below are the residences. They stretch halfway to the ruins in the mountains."
"You have a lot of ruins in this land, don't you?" he said.
"Yes," the shaman replied. It often seems to me that ruins are the major feature of this place. That is part of the reason why we avoid permanence and concentrate on harmony—look what working with more lasting materials brought the builders of the ruins."
A short while later they rode into the upper section of the village, which surprisingly, was located on a large paved over area. The townspeople they spotted, mostly men in colored robes and tabards or simple bright trousers and shirts and women in long simple dresses with faint pastel designs as on the tabards, stared at them curiously. Some talked among themselves, especially when they saw the weapons the three carried, but there was no panic or moves to confront them. Not with the shaman calmly leading them to the Save Shrine. The shrine itself seemed partially covered in ivy, with some of its stones fallen down giving it a weathered look. There was a large red-brown tent attached to it with small blue flag emblazoned with an odd white diamond design trimmed in green on a pole beside the entrance.
"Wait here," the shaman ordered when they reached the shrine. "I must go inside and speak with him before he meets you." The old man walked forward nodding a casual greeting to a few passersby who looked at the new arrivals curiously but without much fear. Then he entered the large tent attached to the small shrine. The three travelers looked at each suddenly nervous.
"So Alessa, do we tell them why we were passing through?" Ryu asked.
"It might not be best to be entirely forth coming int his case," Alessa said angrily. "I want to protect them! Why worry them when we don't have to?"
"They're not children, Alessa," Ryu snapped. The two of them traded looks for a moment.
"Someone's coming out," Kaarn said with a relieved nod.
A man emerged from tent speaking quietly with the shaman. He was clothed in a rich red shirt and snowy trousers with dark eyes and hair that was tied back by a white cloth. He also wore a tabard much like that of the shaman and with a similar design. He was tall and fairly handsome, perhaps ten years older than the three travelers. After studying them he walked forward with a hand raised in greeting.
"Travelers! The shaman has told me something about you. I am the lord of this land. My name Ico…"
