Pepper's boldness knows no bounds. Poor Tony.
I've gone slightly overboard on the whole moon, blue motif. Ah well...
This is a long chapter... so bear with it.
Auribus Teneo Lupum
Translation: I hold the wolf by the ears
Three Days before Full Moon
Pepper stood at the entrance of the Temple of Milene and once again, marveled at the architectural beauty present throughout Patait. The Temple was enclosed by a high wooden fence but it had a beautiful, solid stone gate at its entrance. Angels and the waves of the ocean were carved into the stone.
She walked through the open gate, stepping onto the white marble floor of the courtyard, that stretched on till the Temple building itself. The marble was sprinkled with quartz and titanium chips that glistened in the sunlight.
She was immediately told by a burly, indigo-robed attendant to take off her shoes and place them in a rack near the gate, then to proceed to the Temple. She obeyed and walked serenely to the building.
She could see a pond in the far corner of the courtyard, where a gaggle of geese had gathered. A group of beggars were lined up at one wall, on the side farthest from the Temple building. She huffed as she knew Tony was disguised as one of those beggars.
The man's stubbornness knows no bounds. I explained he would not be of any use in the Temple and that we want the priests to select me... but NO! He has to see what is going on. I just hope he does not intervene.
She climbed up the blue marble steps of the building and stood at the top, gasping in awe at the structure in front of her. The Temple's altar was at the end of a long corridor, flanked on both sides by numerous, slender columns. The floor was a rich indigo blue, with oceanic, foamy waves painted on it. The columns were white, decorated with blue and red flowers that entwined around them. She stepped closer to a column to admire the intricate craftsmanship. Each flower had jewels in its center, embedded in the column.
She looked up at the high ceiling, which was painted with a beautiful scenery of the night sky, white clouds floating gently on the horizon, towards a full moon. The sky above, the ocean below... there is a continuous motif here, of the sea. I wonder why.
She walked down the corridor then, the scent of something sickly sweet and intoxicating in the air.
There was a group of worshippers gathered around the altar. Pepper looked up to see a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling, blue with white lights. Then she looked at the altar. There was no physical idol but a giant mosaic tile painting on the wall.
It depicted a beautiful young woman up close, standing in a tower, her blue hair voluminous and flowing around her. The tower was surrounded by darkness except for a full, blood-red moon in one corner of the painting.
The woman had stretched her hand to the red moon. There were jewels embedded in the tiles, in the moon, the woman's eyes and even scattered in her indigo blue hair.
It was a magnificent painting and Pepper wondered why there was a lump in her throat at the expression on the woman's face.
I wish Tony could see this. It is so beautiful. She is looking at the moon with such longing and love. Who is she stretching her hand towards?
There was a bowl of freshly cut, blue cornflowers on the floor in front of the painting. Two tall blue candle holders framed the painting on either side, blue candles unlit as it was daylight. Heavy black drapes covered the sides of the room.
The worshippers were sitting cross legged on the floor and an attendant entered the altar room by pushing aside the curtain. He sternly gestured at Pepper to sit down and she did so rapidly, copying the position of the worshippers. Then a gong was sounded and a pretty young woman, clad in a simple blue tunic, entered the room.
The worshippers bowed so deeply, their heads touched the floor and Pepper did the same. The woman bowed as well, from the waist and the worshippers straightened.
She looked at the room and said in a light, charming voice, "I see, we have some new faces. For those of you who do not know me, I am Milene, the chief historian of Patait, here to enlighten you with the legends and rich history of Patait and the Goddess. Let me explain today about our great city's origin and how we owe it all to the Goddess."
She gestured at the painting behind her and Pepper looked around as the room was shrouded in darkness. The blue candles were lit, such that their blue flame was the only light in the room. The painting was illuminated in the blue light. Milene began to narrate, from the shadows.
"A long, long time ago, there was a princess. Princess Milene. Her homeland was destroyed by the evil conqueror, Kroll, who imprisoned her in his barren wasteland of an empire. He married her forcibly, to claim her noble birthright. The night of their marriage, Milene managed to escape from her room and climbed up to the highest point in his castle."
"A lone tower. She had very little time left before Kroll would find her. She cried her heart out to the moon, to save her from her fate. There was a full moon in the sky. Something spoke back to her in the darkness. A Being from the stars. It was captivated by her beauty and her innocence and told her, It would take her far away into the galaxy and make her Its bride. If she would accept It as her one true love."
"Milene agreed but said that Kroll must be destroyed and her people who were imprisoned in this land, should be saved. She cared deeply for her people. The Being agreed and a torrent of moonbeam shards rained down on the castle, attacking Kroll's soldiers. But Kroll, vicious beast that he was, climbed the tower and killed Milene in rage, stabbing her and throwing her off the tower. As she fell, Milene was gently caught by the Being in a cradle of moonbeams. The Being held her as her life faded away. Her blood merged with the Being's light and turned the moon red."
"The Being was so angry at the loss of innocence, at Kroll's senseless violence that It unleashed a furious tidal wave of water that engulfed the castle, drowning Kroll's battle force. It then impaled Kroll on a beam of moonlight and tossed him away."
"The water washed away all the soldiers, sparing the people who were imprisoned in the dungeons below. When all of Kroll's army were dead, the people were set free from their jails by the magic of the Being.
It then spoke to them from the sky:
People of Milene, your queen loved you above all else and died for you.
I will honor my promise to her and help you change this godforsaken wasteland into a place of beauty, into a land of wonders.
"The Being used water to carve cliffs and pile earth and surrounded this earth with a deep ocean, which we know today as the Normanian Sea. The piled land that we stand on, is Patait, which the Being named because in its tongue, Patait means light of life. The Being showered gold and precious jewels onto the people, to help them construct the architectural landscape of Patait. Then it spoke one last time."
People of Patait.
I will leave you now.
I must wander the stars, forevermore alone.
I will remember your princess forever.
Indeed I cannot forget her now, even if I try.
I ask the same of you.
Honor Milene as your Goddess.
Remember that all this has come from her efforts, from her blood.
Farewell for now.
The curtains were pulled back and the room was engulfed in light. Pepper blinked heavily, the sudden brightness making her head hurt. She was entranced by the story and fought to clear her mind. The historian was in front of them, smiling.
"So folks, that is the sermon for today. You may now pray and then partake of the holy moonbeam flower. Let us join our hands and pray."
The group started to chant monotonously as the historian walked away and a priest came forward and began to sing in a guttural tone. Pepper could not understand a word that was being said but she tried to catch the words being chanted.
Sheee Devon Channa Ohhhhhhnnnn Un Jahad
Sheee Devon Channa Ohhhhhhnnnn Un Jahad
She tried to chant the same. The worshippers had joined their hands together, palms first and had bowed their heads over their joined hands. Pepper did the same and noticed sneakily, that the priest was avidly staring at her as he sang. He seemed to motion with his eyes at her, to someone behind her. Even the historian was staring at her.
Okay, Pepper, time to attract even more attention.
She surreptitiously took out the pin from her hair and shook her head to make her hair fan out behind her. She continued chanting and nearly smirked as the priest had widened his eyes at her display. She raised her voice slightly and straightened slightly. She could feel she was being watched avidly. By something behind the curtains.
The chanting went on for 10 minutes, then the priest stopped singing and the crowd started to form a single line. Pepper also stood in the line as she noticed the historian come forward with a covered bowl and an attendant behind her, with a deep gold goblet.
For each worshipper, the historian opened the bowl and took out a small white something, that she dipped in the goblet. She would feed it to the worshipper and then step to the next worshipper. One by one, the line progressed and the historian finally reached Pepper. Pepper opened her mouth to receive the offering and the historian smiled sweetly at her.
Pepper saw that the white something was a small petal of a flower and it was being dipped in a clear liquid. The historian placed it in her mouth and whispered to Pepper, "The blood of the Goddess, do not bite, swallow it whole." Pepper obeyed her, it tasted sugary.
She then widened her eyes as the historian leaned very close to her and whispered quickly, "Do not tarry here, beautiful one, go away quickly." Then she leaned back, smiling serenely and stepped to the next person.
Pepper did not know what to make of that. She filed out along with the other worshippers, wondering whether she should approach the priests or they would approach her. She walked slowly over to the pond and stared at her reflection. I wonder if Tony is still here, hiding amongst the beggars.
She jerked with fright when an indigo form suddenly appeared next to her. She saw it was the singing priest, benign and fat and clad in deep blue. She bowed quickly from the waist and said, "Forgive me, your holiness, I did not know it was you. Forgive me."
He had the face of a frog, wide black eyes, bald and fat lips in a broad, shiny face. He smiled benevolently at her and said in a soft voice, "My child, you are new to our Temple, yes? Whereabouts are you from?"
She smiled and said, "I am a traveler, your holiness, I am visiting Patait for the first time and I wanted to see the famous Temple of the Goddess. As for where I am from," she shrugged nonchalantly. "I am an orphan, I have no family, I wander where I please."
The froggy priest beamed with happiness. "My child, we are all part of the Goddess's grace. How fortunate that She led you here to us. Being new, would you like to see the inner sanctum of the Temple?"
Pepper answered, "Your Holiness it would be an honor." He beamed and began to walk back to the Temple building. Pepper followed him, two steps behind. From somewhere, an attendant stepped in place behind her.
The priest took her to the altar, then lifted up a heavy black curtain and gestured at her to enter. She stepped into what was a large alcove, with some structure in its center. It was pitch dark and suddenly two or three candles were lit in quick succession, so that she could see.
She gulped as she saw she was standing in the middle of the same group of priests that were in the Marketplace yesterday. Their frog-like faces beamed at her, illuminated creepily by candlelight, surrounding her in a sea of blue and her heart started to beat with fear.
Courage, Pepper, courage. You can do this.
She smiled tremulously at them. One of them reached out to touch her open hair and then squeaked as his hand was rapped sharply by a huge hand from the darkness. Pepper swallowed hard as the sea of blue parted in the darkness, to make way for an immensely broad, humongous priest, clad entirely in black. He was the fattest of the lot. If the others were frogs, this was a toad of a man, with a flat broad forehead and a huge belly. Around his neck, was a thick silver chain with a circular pendant. It glistened in the darkness.
The Toad smiled benignly at her and Pepper tried not to recoil as she stared into his milky, white eyes which had no pupils. He is blind...
The Toad offered a single dark petal to Pepper, who for a moment, shrank back. But I cannot go anywhere because the priests are surrounding me.
Then the Toad spoke in a deep, bass tone, "My child, my priests tell me you are a singularly exceptional being who has come to our Temple today. I offer you a chance to participate in a secret ceremony that will bring you close to the Goddess Milene, a once in a lifetime offer. Accept the Flower of the Night and open your inner eye."
This is it. Something is going to happen.
She took the flower and the Toad made a chewing motion with his huge jaw. She put it in her mouth and bit into it gently. It tasted slightly bitter but chewy, like a piece of oat bread and she began to chew it properly. The Toad continued smiling and asked gently "What is your name, little one?"
"Virginia." she replied.
"What a nice name. Do you know of the Goddess, did you hear the narration today?"
"Yes, your Greatness, I did. I admire the beauty of your Temple and the Goddess."
The Toad beamed even more. "Do you know that the Being of Light, the Great One, returns to Patait soon? We need to communicate with Him. What do you think of that, little one?"
Suddenly her tongue felt too heavy for her mouth. She spoke with a slur, "How would you communicate with moonlight?"
She felt so slow and her head felt heavy and thick.
She blinked hard, once, twice but it was no use. She could not hold her head straight. Her heart began to pound so fast, she felt it could be heard out loud. She looked about her dimly. Her head began to droop forward.
The priests did not move but began to sway gently and Pepper smiled because they looked so funny, like fat blue frogs in a circle. Then she looked at the Toad, who seemed to have become larger.
She felt dizzy and light-headed. Her throat was so dry. She tried to speak but the effort was too much. The darkness seemed to be swallowing her.
She felt the Toad loom above her, still smiling and then she realized, very slowly, that she was lying down. How did that happen...
The priests were holding her gently, two at her shoulders, two at her feet.
She tried to raise her head as it lolled down between her shoulders. She tried to move her hands or legs but she could not.
One priest touched her hair reverently. He squeaked "It gleams like red gold."
A stray hand lifted her head, touched her face and then widened her eye painfully and she tried to jerk her head away. Another squeaky voice said, "She has beautiful, cerulean blue eyes. Like the Normanian sea."
It is no use, I cannot move, I feel as if I am encased in jelly. Oh god, why is it so dark in here?
Another hand reached out to caress her waist and she jerked violently at the fat hand's touch, trying to buck herself upright.
The Toad menacingly said in the darkness, "She is not for you, you fools. She is for the Great One. Do not sully her. Leave her alone."
Another squeaky voice said, "That is if the Great One will have her."
The Toad seemed to think then, his face still staring down at Pepper. "She seems... perfect. There is something about this one, this wanderer."
Pepper managed to whisper "What are you going to do to me? Let me go..."
The Toad laughed and then the frogs began to laugh squeakily too. Hands came out of the darkness and straightened her and then made her kneel on the darkness below. They are controlling my movements... why won't my limbs listen to me?
Her head felt hot, so she was sweating from the forehead but her body felt cold. Her eyes were nearly closed, the effort to keep them open was too much.
But she felt her hands being pulled behind her and tied tightly with something soft. Then her ankles were tied together as well.
She was lifted up again, this time bound securely, so she couldn't move. She strained against her bonds but they held and the effort weakened her immensely. A hand supported her head, keeping it upright. She closed her eyes tightly, to avoid looking at the sea of smiling, swaying faces in the darkness.
A rough hand passed over her body, from her neck to her feet, feeling her thoroughly and then growled out, "She's got nothing on her, your holiness. No weapons, nothing."
Someone tried to remove the headband from her head and she moaned to object but the Toad spoke, his voice unbearably loudly, "Leave it. Bring the binding cloth."
She felt herself being wrapped carefully in a large cloth, starting from her feet. She was fading into unconsciousness, she knew it.
She opened her eyes, just as the cloth was being wrapped around her neck.
The Toad was still standing over her, the smile gone from his face. His pendant sparkled at her and she thought it turned blue for a second.
She thought of Tony, sweet, stubborn Tony and said his name out loud like a plea, into the darkness.
The Toad tilted his head curiously at that and said "Gag her, she has not yet succumbed to the Moonlight Flower."
Multiple plump fingers parted her lips firmly and a cloth was pulled tight between her teeth, pushing back her tongue. The cloth was tied tightly behind her head. Pepper once again closed her eyes as the wrapping cloth covered her face and was wrapped around her head. She felt the cloth's edges being pulled tightly over her body, making sure it would not fall away from her. Something, a rope or a belt, was looped around her waist and tied into a tight knot.
She felt or heard nothing more as everything faded into darkness.
Tony had been sitting still on the tree for so long, that his one leg had gone to sleep. It was midnight and he had been there for nearly ten hours, hiding amongst the beggars. He had seen Pepper go in, waited anxiously for her to come out and been very relieved when she finally emerged, two hours later. He nearly got up and walked to her then.
But immediately he had seen the fat priest approach her at the pond. He completely forgotten about the plan and stood up, to run to Pepper. However, the Dragon had shouted at him to sit back down and not to interfere.
It had been 7 hours since Pepper had walked back to the building behind the priest.
Tony had been the most fidgety beggar ever. The other beggars were mostly blind and mute but they were so annoyed by his moving around and mutterings, that they had shifted from their place, isolating him. Every half hour he would inch towards them, so it would not look odd that he was sitting by himself.
As evening turned to night, the beggars left one by one, until only Tony was left. An attendant came and pushed him out of the courtyard.
He allowed this, so he could climb a tree on the opposite side of the Temple and watch the courtyard with his telescope.
Anthony, let us go back to the inn, huffed the Dragon tiredly. Pepper has been selected. You cannot do anything now.
Tony peered at the stone gate. Her shoes are still in the courtyard, Dragon. I just want to see if she will come out. No one has left or entered the Temple building. But they have to leave eventually.
Suppose, Anthony, they have an underground tunnel? That they use to transport their candidates. You would not see anything from the surface.
Tony snorted loudly. I am not leaving till I see something. Wait... Wait, someone's coming out of the Temple!
He saw five shadowy figures creep out of the Temple's columnar entrance and descend the steps. Dragon! They are carrying something between them! Oooo, what is it?
He saw one plump figure come closer to the gate and take a pair of shoes from the shoe rack and throw them aside. Then the figure ran back to the group. Tony could clearly see a bundle being carried by the other four.
Where are they going? And why did he throw out Pepper's shoes? I must follow them!
The dragon hissed angrily, Anthony! Cut it out! Suppose they see you!
They will not, there has to be a back door. I just want to know for sure, if that... that bundle is Pepper. There, they are moving towards the farthest side of the courtyard!
Tony jumped down easily from the tree and ran to the Temple wall. He followed the wall, turned at its right and stopped suddenly, flattening himself against it because he could dimly see a small gate open in the distance. It was pitch-dark and an owl hooted menacingly. He held his breath and watched as one by one, the shadowy figures crept out of the gate, passing the bundle between them.
They took a turn at the wall's corner and went behind somewhere. Tony followed the wall and reached the corner. He slowly peered around it.
Behind the Temple, is a canal! Who knew! There is a small boat there! Shit, they are going by boat to... He gasped as he saw the Palace in the distance, on the other side of the canal.
The figures were carrying the bundle towards the boat and then came to a halt as one of them went to unmoor the boat from its fastenings. Tony took out his telescope to peer at the bundle. It seems like a wrapped body. Is that Pepper?
Just then one of the figures stumbled, so he nearly dropped his end of the bundle. The wrapping opened at one end and Tony caught a glimpse of red hair, exposed for just a second in the moonlight. Another figure hissed chidingly and the stumbler quickly pushed the fallen end of cloth, back into the bundle. Tony clamped his hand over his mouth in horror. That is Pepper!
Anthony... warned the Dragon.
The figures climbed the boat, carefully handing the bundle, Pepper, to each other and placing her reverently in the middle of the boat. Tony watched with fear and apprehension as the boat began to move away from the shore.
Pepper... I hope those brutes did not hurt you. I will get in that Palace somehow and I am going to find you.
