AUTHORS NOTES
Archer1eye: Yes, VERY limited exposure. Easthaven is relatively isolated with very little communication with the outside world. Haha! That's a good way to put it... a godly filter but not a mortal one. She is still kind of a deity, but has very little experience or exposure to mortal society. She's aware of some things, but not other and doesn't really know when to keep her mouth shut in social interactions 'as a human'. Hmmmm... as a 'human familiar', that is an interesting concept! I look forward to your next ramble and I will try very very hard to re-convince against the idea you had a couple of chapters ago ;-)
Slyksylva: That may come later, but I like the idea of a wizard trying to mess with Shard and regretting it first ;-)
Havok22: Thanks for the review! Wait for the library scene in this chapter! If only I could draw, I'd show you all what I'm picturing with the library. Something slightly similar to the Old Bodleian Library at Oxford crossed with the Library of Congress and the Library of Palais Bourbon in Paris. The kind of Library I'd have in my dream home ;-) This story is only going to get more and more interesting ;-) It's got a long way to go.
Chapter 67
22nd Day of Middle Spring 768 n.c
It was dark when we got out, the entire garden was absolutely gorgeous! Small magical lights glowed all over the trees, all through the flower beds. Different coloured lights illuminated the entire area. It just seemed so… magical.
We walked north past the library building and Shard tugged on my elbow, "aren't we going to the library?"
I was confused, I knew that we were going to the library, that was what we had said. But when I thought about where we were going it wasn't to the library.
"We're going…" I vocalised, pointing out the main compound doors. It was an attempt to express what was going on inside my head that just didn't make any sense. I tried to picture the place we were going to and it wasn't the library. It was in fact a place I was sure I had never ever been to, a ramshackle building, dark and foreboding.
"What's wrong?" Shard asked, concern written across her face.
"I don't know," I told her, panicking quite a bit, "I know we said that we were going to go to the library, but when I think about where we are going it's… it's, out there."
She frowned, "well, let's go out there then?"
"Are you sure?" I asked, "this is worrying me quite a bit. It's all very strange."
She nodded, smiling and took my arm in hers. Together we walked through the main compound doors and out into Castlemere.
The streets in the Inner Ring were well lit, with lanterns hanging off the compound walls and guards patrolled the streets carrying lanterns on long poles.
We walked purposefully through the gates into the Middle Ring. The streets there were quieter, and darker. There were still guards walking the streets carrying lanterns on poles, but not as many as were in the Inner Ring. Light shone through the windows of houses, or from the upper stories of shops and many shops had lanterns hanging above their doors. Alleyways and side streets were often very dark however. There were occasionally people walking around and we once passed a man and a donkey leading a foul smelling cart. The guards into the Outer Ring looked at us twice, slightly suspicious of our motives but apparently unwilling to question us. The Outer Ring was much darker and more deserted. We did not see any guards at all except for the occasional armed man walking around a private warehouse and suspicious looking people skulked in the alleyways. Some watched us from the shadows, unaware that their cover did little to hide them from my sight, retreating a little when I looked them directly in the eyes. We were halfway between the Outer and Middle gates when I turned right down an alley, Shard continued along smoothly beside me. Her presence next to me was a comfort, a rock in the turbulent current that was dragging me irresistibly towards whatever was coming. The feeling of what was happening to me was that, or perhaps akin to an invisible rope leading me forwards towards a destination. In any case, her presence next to me and the knowledge that we would face whatever came together was reassuring.
The alley was dark but thankfully unoccupied. The houses that faced onto the main street had windowless side walls and where the house ended a wall continued one story high to enclose what was perhaps a small yard behind. The only feature on these walls in the alleyway was a small wooden door about twenty inches high and across. It was a curious feature that I noted, but didn't pay too much attention to. Behind these houses was a warren of ramshackle wooden buildings and it was into this labyrinth that we continued. I knew it when I laid eyes upon it, the house that I pictured. It was two storied and in dire need of repair. Light seeped out from gaps in the boards that made up it's front wall and smoke rose from a stacked stone chimney that leaned precariously and would likely have fallen had not a stick been wedged between it and the roof.
"What's here?" Shard asked.
I shook my head in confusion, "I don't know."
I wished that I was wearing my sword, although magic was much more versatile and dangerous, the sword would have at least been a visual deterrent.
I took a deep breath, summoned my courage and strode forward to knock on the door.
There was a crashing noise from inside and then a sudden silence as if I had disturbed something or surprised whoever was inside.
A great bald man opened the door, light streamed out from the room inside. He was a hulking brute, with days of unshaven stubble on his face and jagged broken or rotted teeth in his mouth. He leered at the two of us, looking us both up and down.
A frown creased his forehead as he turned back into the room to shout, "Did someone organise for a couple'a whores? You know you ain't s'posed to have your doxie here!"
I whispered to Shard, "what's he calling us?"
She whispered back into my ears, "I think that they are both words for people who are paid to have sex with them."
I fought down the anger that boiled up inside me and I opened my mouth to yell at him, but the calm voice that instead came from my mouth did not feel like my own, "Don't be daft, child. I'm not a whore."
"Child? Who're you to call me a child?" The huge man laughed, he was not at all intimidated by me.
"I am my Mother's daughter," I heard myself say, "and it pleases her for me to come here."
The man laughed and scoffed, "Is yer Mother a whore then? Is one of us yer daddy, huh? Who's yer Mother?"
I heard another person inside the house laugh.
"Tenebrae," I told him.
The man's face took on a rictus of fear and surprise and he stumbled back into the room, tripping over and falling hard on his backside.
I felt Shard squeeze my hand and heard her whisper, "it's okay." That was all the reassurance I needed as together we both walked into the house. I felt unnaturally calm as I surveyed everything in front of me.
The room had one doorway ahead and a set of stairs to the right. Another man, almost as small as me was sitting at a table immediately to my left and as we entered another man with a moustache appeared in the doorway and two others began making their way down the stairs.
They all looked out of place, a mixture of different social classes, different qualities of clothes. The man that had answered the door and the small weasel like man at the table were both dressed in dirty and shabby tunics with hole riddled trousers. The mustachioed man was dressed in much finer clothing more similar to my own and the two that had come down from upstairs were somewhere in between, possible tradespeople or shop owners?
I evaluated each of the five men in the house and knew immediately which one was the most suitable. As I looked at each one, it felt like I knew everything about them; every secret, every fear and every dream, every silent whispered prayer.
Shard closed the door behind us as I turned to the shabby man to our left, "Mother is tired of you all playing at worshipping her. Not a one of you decided to dedicate yourselves to her at the last Long Night. She has decided to forego tradition and fix that. Tonight."
The collective intake of breath was loud and the shocked and fearful expressions caused a little twinge of excitement to blossom inside me. Did I like having all of these people afraid of me? That thought worried me more than anything, but I didn't have time just then to dwell on it.
"Set up a temple, find worshippers," I directed the little man, "for every ten worshippers, pick one to dedicate themselves next Long Night. Send them elsewhere with their identity and location known only to you. Have them do likewise. Mother expects you to have at least ten ready to become priests by the next Long Night."
I looked at the mustachioed man and ordered, "fetch me a cup."
The man, who looked like he was more used to giving than taking orders, jumped and hurried off. He returned after only a few moments with a wooden mug, half filled with ale. He held it out to me, proffered up with his head lowered and hands outstretched. I reached out and took the mug from his hands and he scurried backwards as soon as I had done so.
Everything stopped. I knew what needed to happen, I needed to pray to Tenebrae to desecrate the cup, but I was so used to everything just happening subconsciously at the time and it wasn't… just happening.
Shard giggled next to me and I felt her breath in my ear as she whispered, "she can't make you pray to herself, it sets up a feedback loop and would… hurt her. You need to do it yourself."
I shot her a look of thanks. It was quite strange really, I was there doing those things essentially against my own will (I could probably have ignored it all if I tried, but I was happy enough to follow her pull) but here was one thing that required my active participation. I wasn't about to let her down of course, that was the furthest thing from my mind, but it was just a little amusing to me.
I prayed aloud to Tenebrae, asking her to desecrate the mug in my hands and I felt the magic settle into it, making it glow briefly with black light. The men in the room looked on in awe.
I felt the tug on my hand and held it out. The weight of Shard's dagger settled into my hand.
"Come here," I ordered the little man and curled my finger in a come hither gesture.
The little man rose unsteadily and took a couple of steps towards me, coming to a stand shakily in front of me.
"Undress," I commanded and he looked around at the other men in confusion before looking back at me with uncertainty.
"I'm not going to cut it off," I said, my real voice sounding markedly different to the unnaturally calm one she had been using through me, "and I don't care about that. It's part of the ritual."
He blinked at the difference in tone before he began shedding his clothes. He was emaciated, with his shoulder bones obvious and his rib cage standing out. His legs were almost like skin stretched over bone.
I pitied him and hoped desperately that the changes wrought that night would help him.
"Those who sacrifice will be rewarded by me," came the Mother's voice in the back of my head and I smiled in recognition.
"Kneel," I told the man and he did as I commanded.
"Tenebrae," I called and all the men looked at me in shock, "this man is here to dedicate himself to you!"
The bug-eyed look on the man's face showed me that Tenebrae had answered. He rose unsteadily onto his feet and held out both of his hands palms facing up.
I brought Shard's knife first to one and then the other, cutting deep lines through the skin of his palms. Blood welled up immediately and I tilted his hands so that some of the blood dripped into the mug I held underneath them. Then I held the mug out to him. He took the mug in both hands and drank its contents.
His face contorted into a horrible expression of pain and I empathised with him, I knew exactly what he was feeling and watching him go through it brought back my own memories of the pain.
Once Tenebrae deemed it sufficient, I called out, "take so that you may give!"
The man was engulfed by a black-light flame and purple lightning shot across his skin for a brief moment until he collapsed onto his knees.
"It is done," I beckoned forward the two men on the stairs to assist their new priest. They rushed forward and took him up.
"The Mother of Darkness has taken your eyesight, until the next Long Night," I told him, and the room in general, "a temporary sacrifice for a greater reward. Remember my instructions, at least ten new priests on the next Long Night."
Together, Shard and I turned and left the house, walking back the way we had come towards the Guildhouse.
We almost made it back to the Middle Gatehouse before all of my thoughts settled . I stopped suddenly and Shard continued onwards for a step or two before she realised and turned back to me.
"I think..." I began and then gathered my thoughts a bit better, "I know what that was. Tenebrae was using me to rebuild her church, obviously. But… Is that what it's like for you?"
Shard quirked an eyebrow and I clarified, "when I looked at those men, when I first saw them, I knew all about them. Every prayer that they had whispered to Tenebrae, I knew it all."
"Oh," she replied with a smile, "that." She paused for a moment before continuing, "it used to be. But you get used to ignoring it after a while. It depends upon who they have been praying to and who I'm acting on behalf of. Those kobolds for instance, back in the forest who used to pray for food? When I was acting on behalf of Kurtulmak, I knew the prayers and such of the kobolds that prayed to him. Tenebrae knows the prayers of everyone who prays to her and to those under her. But she's a little tricky as well, as she also knows everybody's secrets. You see, whenever you have something that you want to keep everybody else from knowing? That's basically a prayer to the Goddess of secrets. People tell her their secrets without even realising that they are telling her."
We both giggled at that, "when we get back to the guildhall," I told her, "I'm going to need a lot of cuddles."
"You can have all of the cuddles," she replied, embracing me and giving me a quick peck on my lips.
"Is she going to do that often?" I asked.
Shard smiled and gave my arm a squeeze, "no, I don't think so. It's very important to her to get her own church back up and running but not a lot here holds her interest for long… except for you of course."
"Not you?" I asked.
"Oh," she replied with a smile, "I'm always on her mind. But that's just me."
The guards at the Middle Gatehouse commanded us to, "Halt!" when we approached and a gruff and grumpy looking soldier marched forward with a lantern. This he shoved into our faces, peering at us with incredulity.
"What's your business?" He demanded.
"We are returning back to the Mages Guildhall," I told him and he immediately straightened at the mention.
"I'm sorry Ma'am," he apologised and waved us forward, "straight on through of course."
"Thank you," I replied to him as we continued our way forward.
"All the cuddles?" I asked Shard once we were out of earshot, feeling extremely tired both physically, emotionally and mentally.
"All the cuddles," she reiterated with a smile that warmed my heart.
