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DKP 5-3 Crimes of Faith
🕑 Added 2020-02-28 21:19:17 +0000 UTC
Gersius felt burning anger from Thayle as they flew lower to see the temple of Ulustrah was already burned and gutted. The smoke they saw was what was left of the surrounding gardens as they smoldered, the trees little more than charred husks. Not a soul moved in the vicinity of the temple as Lilly touched down nearby.
“Were too late,” Lilly said as she looked at the nearby buildings. “This battle is a day old.”
Gersius nodded in agreement but insisted on investigating on foot as Shadros touched down beside them. He helped Thayle down and together approached the burned doorway.
“Is this what you came to find?” Shadros asked in a blunt voice.
“No,” Gersius replied. “This is what we came to prevent.”
“Then you have failed, let us go back,” the dragon pressed.
“Will you shut up!” Thayle barked as she spun to glare at the dragon. “Lives may have been lost here!”
“Rodent lives,” the dragon replied. “Not worth the effort to...”
Lilly twisted around and cut him off with a rumbling growl.
“If you anger my wife again, I will make you bleed!”
He looked shocked at the sudden display of anger and lifted his head high. “Why do you care for them so much?”
“Why can’t you care at all?” Lilly demanded back. “Mingfe must be sick of talking to you.”
“Do not speak of her like that!” the dragon shouted back.
“Oh, does insulting the human you care about hurt?” Lilly pressed.
“I do not care about any rodents,” he insisted as Lilly glared at him.
“Then why do you care what I say about her?”
“Enough you two,” Gersius shouted to interrupt them. “We need to see if we can find some townspeople, and ask what happened.”
“We know what happened,” Thayle snapped. “The priests of Astikar followed that wicked man's orders and attacked an innocent temple!”
“Thayle, please,” Gersius begged as her pain pressed at him across the bind. He'd never seen her so angry over anything, and that rage was bleeding into him. It was with great effort he tuned her out to try and focus on what needed doing now.
“We should go into the town,” Gersius insisted.
“With two dragons?” Lilly asked. “Nobody will come to talk to us.”
“I am not leaving you here. If anything happens, I want you both close by,” Gersius replied.
“Why not go straight to the temple of Astikar?” Thayle asked. “Let's see how they like their temple burned!”
Gersius winced at the angry remark and led the way. He wished there was some way to talk to Lilly over the bind without Thayle knowing. He wanted Lilly to speak with her and offer words of comfort. Thayle's pain at seeing the destruction of her order was pulling her into a dark place. A place he was at once before when he walked into Lilly's valley hoping to die.
The town had perhaps a hundred buildings with only a few cobbled roads. It had no wall or gates, but there were a couple of fortified towers. Standing over them all was a square tower flying the banner of Astikar on the far side. Thayle's gaze was fixed firmly on it as they neared the first houses. The streets were bare of people, though voices could be heard on the wind. He decided to ask at the home nearest the temple and see what he could learn.
“Wait here,” Gersius said to Thayle and the dragons, leaving them in the street as he approached the door to a two-story building. He knocked firmly and waited as the others watched. He was forced to knock a second time before the door cracked a narrow slit, and a fearful eye gazed out.
“We don't want no trouble,” a man's voice quaked from inside.
“I have not come to bring you trouble,” Gersius said. “I need to know what happened to the temple of Ulustrah?”
“You say you don’t mean me any trouble and then ask a question like that. Them priests of Astikar will drag away my whole family.”
Gersius felt Thayle’s anger rise even as he tried to ignore it. He took a deep breath and pressed the matter practically pleading with the man.
“I have come to call the priests of Astikar to account. Are they responsible for this temple?”
The eye looked around and saw Thayle glaring with a deep frown. It then looked up and saw the two faces of the dragons and went wide before the door slammed shut.
Gersius put a hand to his face in frustration and knocked again.
“Go away!” the voice shouted from inside.
“The dragons will not harm you,” Gersius said.
“Dragons have attacked the towns down south,” the voice shouted back. “They say they are working with Ulustrah to enslave the northlands.”
Again he felt the anger pressing at him and struggled to keep a clear head. In times of love and passion, the link they shared was a great blessing, but in times of trial, it was a curse. He couldn't allow Thayle's anger to cloud his judgment and focused on keeping calm.
“Sir, if the dragons were here to enslave you, I would not be knocking on your door,” Gersius firmly. “I would have them tear off your roof. Now answer my question, please. What happened to the temple of Ulustrah?”
There was a moment of silence before the door opened again. The eye looked at Gersius with distrust and glanced around before meeting his gaze once more.
“Them priests of Astikar came last night. They received reinforcements from the south, and the captain that came with led them here. Those priestesses put up a fight, but the knights of Astikar outnumbered them three to one. They subdued all the priestess and hauled them away, then set fire to everything that was Ulustrahs.”
“They received reinforcements?” Gersius pressed.
The door creaked open an inch more, and Gersius could see an older man with a trembling face.
“The temple of Astikar sent men south to fight in a war months ago. There were only four of them left to keep the temple running. For some reason, I don't rightly know they started quarreling with the priestesses of Ulustrah, said they betrayed them and such. Them Priestesses started wearing armor and keeping to their temple. There were six of them, so the priests of Astikar kept their distance, but just the other day a dozen or so more arrived and bolstered their number. They proclaimed that the priestesses were in league with Gersius, the betrayer, and his evil dragons. They said the dragon attacks were Gersius's fault and that they were here to save the town. The people didn’t think what they said was right. What person could lay an accusation like that on a priestess of Ulustrah after all.”
Gersius sighed and nodded for the man to continue.
“We heard some folk argued and said they must be wrong, and them priests of Astikar arrested them. Then they came in force to the temple and demanded the women surrender. They refused, and the priests battered down their down and dragged them out.”
“So, they marched them away?” Gersius asked.
“No, they dragged them. Not a one of them was able to stand, not after the beating them priests of Astikar gave them. We heard some of the women screaming for mercy from here.”
Gersius shook at that statement, and it wasn't Thayle causing it this time. To hear they beat them to the point that they pleaded for mercy from the servants of the god of mercy sickened him.
“I have heard enough,” Gersius replied. “Thank you for your assistance.”
The man nodded and wasted no time slamming the door again.
Gersius stepped back and had to take a few deep breaths.
“Astikar, you must be ashamed of yourself,” he said before looking back to Thayle. Her gaze was cold and dispassionate, looking more like a predator about to kill for sport. He shuddered to see it and focused on keeping her feelings at bay. Now was not the time to lose control, not when they had to face the priests of Astikar.
“What now?” Lilly asked.
Gersius dreaded what he was about to say, but there was no way to avoid it.
“We are going to the temple of Astikar. We will walk around the town and approach it from the other side. If a battle breaks out, I do not want to fight it in the streets.”
“You said we would leave if there was fighting,” Shadros pressed.
“I said we would leave if there was a large number of troops here. If that man's story is correct, there are just over a dozen men. Lilly can handle more than that by herself.”
Shadros growled and thrashed his tail, but Gersius ignored him and stormed off. He was going to drag these men out of their temple and make them account for everything they had done. Beside him, Thayle walked without saying a word. She was a storm of anger, and her face was locked in a dark scowl. If that man's story had struck him so, they must have struck her twice as hard. He knew she was suffering but feared to open the link and feel it. He glanced at Lilly, who looked back with concern in her eyes.
There was no choice but direct confrontation, and he knew there would be bloodshed. As they rounded the town, they crossed over gardens and shallow walls. They encountered a few people who fled in terror at the sight of the dragons, shouting warnings into the streets. He knew word would be spreading through the town, and more than likely somebody would warn the temple of Astikar.
As they crossed over a wooden fence, he saw his worst nightmare unfold. Twenty men stood in two rows of ten in full armor and with shields raised. They were a hundred paces away, standing in an open field between him and the temple. He went to step forward to get closer and address the men, but a voice yelled out.
“Hammers!”
Gersius planted the tip of his shield into the ground and ducked behind it. Quickly he opened the connection to the divine, chanting the blessing of protection as ten hammers of Astikar raced in. Balisha’s protection of dragon hide spread across the shield giving it supernatural strength as hammers began to shatter on it. He looked back to see Thayle with a green shield spread over herself as two hammers collided with it. Lilly and Shadros were pelted with a couple as Lilly’s eyes blazed with fire.
“You foolish men!” Lilly roared. “We came to talk!”
“You came to die!” a voice shouted back.
Gersius leaped to his feet and drew his sword. He knew the priests would need a good ten seconds before they could use the hammers again. He wasted no time and charged down the field as Thayle and Lilly raced after him.
He watched as the line of men shifted and stepped back so that the front row was now the back row. It was a clever tactic to rotate the men so they could get a second volley off quickly. The second row of men fell into the blessings and threw hammers of their own, forcing him to take cover a second time. Thayle huddled behind him this time, but Lilly absorbed the hits and raced by them.
“Step back!” a captain shouted. “Focus on the dragon!”
Lilly shook the ground as she thundered in, closing the gap. She wasted no time in going to her breath and blasted the line of them. Gersius looked over his shield to see the lines of men with shields interlocked, chanting Astikars' shield blessing. It created a wall of protection that kept the men behind it safe, deflecting Lilly's attack. So long as they stayed in such a tight formation, her breath would be useless, but that meant nothing to her claws.
He got to his feet and ran forward as Lilly bore down on the first shields. They glowed with orange light as her talons scraped across the surface, straining the blessing to its breaking point. The ward snapped, and the men directly before her fell back as more hammers pelted her side.
Gersius was there a moment later, opening a hole with a dragon's claw, and tossing a man back. His startled comrades looked up as he plowed into them, using the blessing of strength to tear into them. He heard a snapping hiss and glanced to his left to see Thayle with the strange green blade cutting with all her might into a shield. She looked enraged as she waded into the closest men with little care.
He focused on the men around him, using his strength to overcome them while they were still shocked. He smiled as Lilly lunged to the side, using her tail to batter six of them, throwing them back. She then used her breath to force the men to take cover but kept right on coming. She barreled through them, tossing them aside like toys as they scattered away.
Another dragon's claw pushed a man away as he took a second into a duel. He expected a decent fight but quickly realized this man was no match for him. Gersius tangled his blade and relieved him of it before using his shield to punch him in the side. The man toppled over where the impact shattered ribs and took him from the fight.
A cry of pain made him glance left to see a man sliding off Thayles sword, now red with blood. A second man lay still on the ground behind her, and she quickly raced after another. He realized at that moment that she wasn't trying to subdue them, she was killing them. If he didn't end this battle quickly, Thayle would butcher every man she could reach.
He had to duck as a sword swung over his head, and he brought his shield up to catch a quick counter slice. This man was better, but he already overreached, gambling that Gersius was distracted. He stepped into the man, and using his dragon strength rammed him with the shield. Off-balance as the man was he fell back falling to the ground, it was here Gersius saw the black raven's head emblem on the shoulder plate. A quick dragon's claw wrapped him up, and with a resigned sigh, he tossed the man into Thayle's path.
Thayle cut an arc of blood across the leg of the man she was fighting just as the raven guard landed to her right. She looked up at Gersius with deadly narrow eyes as he nodded.
“That is the leader,” Gersius called. “He would have ordered the attack.”
He had to turn his head as Thayle fell on him, his heart could not bear to see her like this. Thankfully a blast of cold raced over them all, coating everyone with a thin layer of ice. Shadros had finally decided to join the fight, and so distracted were the priests with Lilly, they were taken entirely by surprise. It wasn't a deadly blast, just enough to sap them of their strength and numb their muscles, robbing them of their ability to fight.
Gersius stepped back as the priests of Astikar cried out in pain and alarm. Most fell to their knees as armor and skin froze in the torrent, and a few ripped off their helmets. Gersius felt sick to see the young faces underneath and shouted to the others.
“Lilly, Thayle, stop!”
Lilly ground to a halt where she about to batter two men aside, but Thayle pressed in sword raised to finish the helpless man before her. The raven guard lay still in a frozen pool of blood behind her.
“Thayle, please!” Gersius pleaded again, causing her to look at him. “They are broken, and the man responsible is dead.”
“So what?” Thayle shouted. “They are all guilty!”
Gersius took a step toward her with a hand raised. “Look at them,” he pressed. “They are boys.”
Thayle paused and looked down the line of men writhing in the cold. When her eyes fell on the few, who had cast aside helmets, her sword hand began to shake.
“That monster pressed children to do is vile work?” Thayle gasped.
“We should kill them while they are broken,” Shadros called from behind.
“No!” Gersius shouted back as he looked to the dragon. “You did well, but the rest will be given a chance to redeem themselves.”
Shadros huffed and fell in line beside Lilly.
“How did you know Gersius and Thayle wouldn’t freeze?” Lilly asked.
“You told me they share your power,” he replied. “And Mingfe explained how they are as strong to the cold as we are. You had these fools distracted so they could not stop my breath.”
Lilly nodded at him and turned back to Gersius.
“What do you want us to do?”
“Disarm them and form them into a line,” Gersius replied. “Heal anyone who is badly injured.”
Lilly nodded and began grabbing men and hoisting them up with ease.
“If you throw another hammer, I will squash you!” she bellowed as she began separating them from their dropped weapons.
Gersius watched Lilly for only a moment before turning to Thayle. She stood shaking her head, loudly breathing so deeply her breastplate was rising visibly.
“Are you alright?” he asked as he approached.
“We need to go inside and find the women,” Thayle said coldly. “Assuming they haven’t been sent away to a prison camp already.”
Gersius swallowed his concern and turned back to Shadros.
“Help Lilly keep them in one place. If any of them can manage to stand and attack, you have my permission to kill that one.”
“You should kill them all, now,” Shadros argued.
“I don’t kill the helpless,” Gersius replied with an angry tone. “Please, help Lilly keep them in one place.”
Shadros growled and turned away to help as Gersius followed Thayle inside. The temple didn't have very many rooms, and it didn't take long to find the battered and bruised women from the temple. They were bound and gagged, still suffering from their wounds. The priests of Astikar hadn't even healed them once the fight was over. Beside them were a dozen other people who appeared to be townsfolk. Probably the ones who spoke up and denied the accusations against Ulustrah. They were in better shape but were chained to a far wall, unable to help the poor priestesses.
Thayle started to cry as she cut women free and tried in vain to heal wounds that were already too old. Some of the women were covered in bruises where they had been battered by mailed fists.
Gersius felt sick to his stomach to see how poorly they had been treated and helped Thayle cut them loose. The townspeople praised them and begged to be led out. Gersius pressed them into helping carry the women first and set them in the grass outside the temple.
“Thayle, I am sorry,” he began as she leaned over a woman with two swollen black eyes.
“Don’t,” Thayle said without looking up at him. “You cannot say anything that will excuse this.”
Gersius felt his stomach turn to see her so in pain. He wanted to say something more, but one of the townspeople approached him.
“Did you find Amric?” the man asked.
Gersius looked to the man with a lost expression.
“Who?”
The man shuffled his feet. “Priest Amric from the temple here. He wouldn’t put up with that raven priest and refused his commands.”
“A priest from this temple defied the raven captain?” Gersius asked.
The man nodded. “We saw them arguing and came to his side. He is a good man who always took care of the town. He was gentle like them priestesses are, but that raven priest ordered his men to arrest the lot of us.”
“You do not know what happened to this, Amric?” Gersius pressed.
“No, sir,” the man replied. “They took him around back of the tower while they were taking us inside.”
Gersius nodded and took stock of the situation. The surviving men were gathered in line with Lilly before them and Shadros behind them. They were recovering from their flash freeze, but many still shook. Thayle was crying over the women laid in the grass as some of the others tried to help her. He took a moment to steady his thoughts and walked to the tower, heading for the yard behind it.
He found brother Amric hanging from a noose strung over a tree. His armor ripped away and covered in purple bruises. A sign hung around his neck with the word traitor written across it.
“This is the fate of good men who follow you,” Gersius said, hoping Astikar would hear. “Beaten and hung by the wicked who you reward greatly. How do you justify this?”
Only the distant sound of Thayle crying could be heard in reply, and he turned away. He went into the town to find volunteers and to commandeer wagons. He had them brought to the tower, and the women carefully loaded into them. These were sent down the road to meet up with his advancing army. He then turned to the men sitting in a line. It was time to make them face what they had done.
Gersius walked down the line of men in red and silver. He scowled as he went by them one by one. Many of them scowled back, angry stares in their eyes.
“What you have done here is monstrous,” Gersius said, pausing to study the reactions. “You have turned your back on Astikar's teachings! How do you call this mercy?”
One of the priests boldly replied. “The Father Abbot is the voice of Astikar he is-”
“A liar!” Gersius roared, turning to face the man. “Astikar is a god of protection and mercy, yet you have arrested and beaten anyone who will not bow and grovel at your feet.”
The man shook at the accusations but held a firm gaze.
“We only seek to save the lives of the greater body of people. Gersius, the betrayer, has turned against the order and poisoned the hearts of Ulustrah. If they are not reigned in, they will enslave the lands and feed the people to his dragons.”
“You are so wise that you can judge what is right,” Gersius said calmly. “You are the protectors of the good people, and old enough to know who is good and noble and who is a villain. I tell you now that the only good man who stood among you hangs from a tree in your yard!”
“He betrayed the Raven guard!” the boy spat back.
“The raven guard is drawn up from criminals and violent men!” Gersius snapped. “Half their number are priests that were cast out for their cruelty and tempers. Do you feel honorable that you obey such men?”
“The Father Abbot has forgiven them,” the boy argued back. “I do not question his wisdom.”
“Yes, you do,” Gersius said. “Unless you are as wicked of heart as they are, you feel the truth of your actions. Deep down, you know the truth, and you feel the shame of what you have done.” He saw other men look down, unable to hold his gaze, but the boy stood firm.
“Who are you that you know our order so well?” he asked.
Gersius shook his head. How could they be so blind?
“I am Gersius, the dragon knight and Champion of Balisha,” he replied.
Some men looked up but turned away if he glanced at them. The boy before him shook with a mixture of shock and rage. Gersius could see the light of his aura filling with red streaks and a flashing light over his head. Thayle said that meant he was making a hard choice, one that might change his life.
“Do you have something more to say?” Gersius asked.
The man stood tall to look Gersius in the eye. “I challenge you to a duel to the death for you sacrilege!”
“My sacrilege?” Gersius mocked. “You who betray all that Astikar stands for. I, at least, had mercy enough to heal your wounds once you were beaten!”
The man stood unmoved, but his hands shook as his aura filled with red light.
“We followed the orders of our most holy Father! We showed mercy by allowing them to live!”
“Do not stand behind orders as if they exonerate you!” Gersius shouted. He wanted to draw his sword and cut the boy down for those poisonous words. To hear him acknowledge that beating those women near to death had been mercy tested the limits of his restraint.
“I do not stand behind my orders,” the boy replied. “I have challenged you to a duel. I will stand behind that. Let him who speaks the truth prove it by the blade.”
Gersius focused on the point of light in the deep calm of his mind as he breathed deeply. He couldn't afford to lose control and double the tragedy of this day. He glanced down the line of men sitting in the grass that would not meet his gaze. The dragons loomed above, ready to crush them the moment they decided to be foolish. If he did not handle this correctly, it would likely come to just that. Gersius turned his eyes back to the boy who challenged him and prayed for a miracle.
This boy couldn't possibly be a priest. It took five years of training before an acolyte was raised from acolyte to a full brother. They managed the blessings well and held a proper formation, but when pressed into fighting, they were sorely lacking in sword skill. It could mean only one thing.
“You are no more than a raw recruit, a fresh body hurriedly raised through the training and promoted to priest. You have not completed even a tenth of the combat training and are no match for me.”
The boy stepped forward, causing a snarl from Lilly, but Gersius shook his head at her.
“I will defend the honor of the Father Abbot!”
“You will die for his lies,” Gersius replied.
“You will not speak of the Father Abbot like that in my presence!”
Gersius ignored him and looked at the others. “Do you all wish to die defending a lie? If so, I will return your weapons and fight you all one by one.”
None of the others made a reply; most didn't even move.
“You are all cowards!” the boy screamed at his comrades. “You betray your oaths to serve the Father Abbot!”
Gersius took a step back at the words, and his brow creased deeply over his eyes.
“What vows to serve the Father Abbot?”
The boy whirled around to face Gersius, his face flushed with rage and his jaw clenched. He glared at him with murderous eyes.
“We have taken the sacred vows that all brothers take to serve and protect the Father Abbot until death! To fail in this casts us into Shaol.”
Gersius was profoundly shocked and struggled to maintain his composure. Shaol was an old story of a place of abandonment the gods threw souls who betrayed them. There the lost wandered an empty wasteland searching for some way to redeem themselves, or so it was said. However, the sacred oath was to serve Astikar, not the Father Abbot, and there was no threat of exile in it. The worst punishment a man could receive was to be cast from the order.
“This is true?” Gersius asked the assembled men. “Have you all sworn to serve the Father Abbot?”
Some of the men finally responded with weak acknowledgments or head nods. None of them seemed to be proud of it.
Gersius turned back to his challenger and felt pity. He was a young man, barely a recruit who had been fed on lies and made to swear an oath to protect them. He was, in many ways, an honorable man, fearlessly standing his ground and honoring his pledge. Gersius did not want to kill him.
“I am not going to fight you,” he said.
“Then you are a coward like they are!” the angry boy yelled at him.
Lilly snarled, but Gersius sent her a quick mental message asking her to please let the man live. It was bad enough Thayle was killing the priests of Astikar in anger; he didn't need Lilly joining her.
“I will stand the test of faith instead,” Gersius offered.
All the men in the line looked at him suddenly. There were confused looks on some faces, frightened looks on others. A test of faith was a rare challenge issued between two priests who both believed they were serving the best interest of the divine. It was a way to get a solid answer to who the divine accepted the most correct.
“You would dare invite Astikar to judge you?” the boy scoffed. “You will be burned to ash!”
“Then you will go free,” Gersius replied. “But when Astikar denies you, you will see the truth that you have shamed yourself for the Father Abbot’s lies.”
He heard Lilly’s voice in his mind. “You do remember you are not a priest of Astikar anymore?”
“I do,” he replied in his thoughts.
“How do you intend to invoke Astikar if you do not serve him any longer?” she asked.
“He will reply, I stand before a man who has a strong commitment to faith. Strong enough to die for it. I am giving Astikar a chance to save his life.”
“You are gambling with the gods. I do not like it when you force their hands.”
“Trust me, Lilly, I am doing Astikar a favor here.”
“I accept your challenge, I will stand against you in the test!” the boy said in a mocking tone, a broad smile on his face.
Gersius smiled and stepped back a few paces beckoning the man forward. As the man stepped up, Gersius nodded and pointed behind him. “You will stand at that end of the line, and I will stand at the other, then we will call to Astikar and see who he judges.”
“You will be punished for treachery!” the boy assured him.
Gersius shook his head and walked away. The test was simple; they would stand apart and face one another. Then they would open their hearts to Astikar and demand to be judged. In doing so, they committed themselves to Astikar's full power, and an answer was often swift in coming. One man would be enveloped in Astikar's red light, and the other depending on the severity of the man's words or actions, would be punished.
Most times, it was little more than the humiliation of not being picked. Sometimes they were struck blind or mute for a short while or force to kneel in defeat. Some men who struggled to resist the kneel were struck down and left unconscious.
The test was meant to establish who was right and who was wrong. Gersius sorely wished he could drag the Father Abbot out before the whole of the order and challenge him. Rarely was the test more than a simple display of right and wrong. Gersius had heard of a man once even being struck ill with a disease that took seven priests of Vellis to cure. Of course, there were rare men who, for one reason or another, were struck down, slain for the falsehood they were spreading. He was sure half the raven guard would end this way if they could be foolishly made to call judgment on themselves.
Gersius stopped at the end of the line and turned around to face his challenger. He turned, facing Gersius, and sneered a happy smile as he began to pray.
Gersius opened his heart first to Balisha and uttered a quick prayer asking her to petition Astikar to save this man's life. Then he opened his heart to the God of Mercy and found the connection to him blocked. With great effort, he pressed at the God again, and suddenly the way opened. For the first time in months, he felt the power of the god of mercy flow to him. Quickly, he chanted in his clear, strong voice, laying his petition before the God of Mercy. In the name of mercy, Gersius wanted to show these men that he was right to break the lie and save their lives.
For nearly a minute, both men chanted, then all waited silently for the reply.
Gersius studied his adversary a moment before the red light of Astikar engulfed him. Gasps filled the air, and men pointed as the light burned over him like a fire. Golden light formed around the top of his head and shaped into a blazing crown, putting an end to the lies. A cry of pain echoed out as the boy was thrown back, clutching his face with both hands.
“What has happened?” Lilly asked him across the binding link.
“I do not know,” Gersius replied as he ran to the boy who now rolled on the ground, still holding his hands over his face.
“How can this be?” the boy howled as he thrashed.
Gersius reached him and struggled to pull his hands away. When he did, he saw it, the mark of a red star burned into his cheek. It was perhaps the worst fate for a man with such a strong heart. It marked a false priest, a man who claimed to serve Astikar but served another. Gersius realized that this was the most likely outcome; he did, after all, swear an oath to serve the Father Abbot, not Astikar.
“Why?” the boy cried out in tears.
Gersius saw the pained look on his face, and he fell into the divine link to the God he once worshiped. “Astikar, please! This man is innocent. He has been lied to by the one he should have been able to trust. It is the Father Abbot who should bear this mark. Show this boy your true mercy, and I will redeem him. I will take him to Lengwin so he can learn to follow you truly, and be a light to your faith.”
A rolling noise like distant thunder echoed across the sky, and all heads turned skyward. There was a second noise like the tearing of paper as the man called out in pain a second time. A red light burned across his face causing him great suffering as the mark turned to ash and fell from his cheek. To Gersius's great relief, the skin underneath was whole again.
“Why have you punished me?” the boy called out and clutched at his face.
“He has forgiven you,” Gersius replied. “You are not the one who deserves the mark of a false priest.”
The others in the line, having watched the whole of the proceeding began to fidget and squirm.
Gersius stood up and looked down the line of them.
“Do you see now?” he challenged them. “I have accused the Father Abbot of lies, and this man has stood against me saying that the Father Abbot tells the truth. Astikar himself has shown you which of us is right. Now look into your hearts and know that what you have done here was an abomination!”
Every eye watched him with fear and trepidation. They were all young men; most of them hadn't seen twenty years. Most were probably recruited out of the countryside and turned into priests in a few weeks. They were boys who believed they had the God's blessing because the Father Abbot had told them they had it. Now, however, they questioned if they would be struck down like the man on the ground.
Gersius shook his head. “All of you will return with me and present yourself to High Priest Lengwin. He will instruct you on the proper way to worship Astikar and show you just how shallow your understanding is.”
Voices murmured, and men shuffled, but nobody objected. Gersius turned to the man on the ground who sat up with a shattered look on his face.
“You are a good man. You have courage and strength. You were willing to risk death to defend what you thought was right. You have nothing to be ashamed of; you were lied to.”
The man looked away and didn’t respond.
“I will train you personally in combat and devotion. A man of your heart should not be wasted over a lie.”
“Why do you favor me?” he asked in a strained voice.
“Because you had the courage to challenge me. You knew you were no match for me but had such faith that you were sure Astikar would carry you through. You may have believed in a lie, but you were committed to what you believe. Once we have swept the lies away and properly turned your heart to Astikar, you will be a powerful priest.”
Gersius held out his hand, and after a long moment, the man accepted it.
“Return to the line. You have nothing more to prove,” Gersius said, and the man nodded his acceptance and stepped back in place. He waited a moment before stepping back to address them all. “This man shames the rest of you. He alone had the courage to stand firm in what he believed. He didn't care if he died because he thought his death would honor Astikar. Remember that when you wonder in the weeks ahead if your heart is truly committed to the God.”
“Why have you spared us?” another finally dared to ask.
Gersius looked at the man who had spoken. He was shorter than most with a broad build and a strong face.
“I do it to honor Astikar. He showed me mercy when I needed it. So I now show it whenever I can to those of his who need it.”
None of the men asked for any further clarification.
Gersius nodded to Lilly and spoke. “We will march them to the road and down it to meet up with the wagons. They will help us escort them to Lengwin.”
“I understand, but what about Thayle?” Lilly asked.
Gersius nodded. Thayle needed to be spoken to about her pain. In the battle, she had killed without pity, and Lilly and Gersius had felt it across the binding link. Her anger was as sick to feel as Shadros's had been.
“I will speak to her; it is understandable that she is angry. In every town, we find more suffering for her order, and she is taking that pain in deeply.”
“I do not wish her to feel such pain,” Lilly said.
“I will talk to her, Lilly. You and Shadros get these men moving.”
Lilly nodded and looked down at the men assembled before her. “Stand up and walk to the road. Stay in line, or we will crush you!” she growled.
Gersius watched them go for a moment before turning in the direction he felt Thayle in. He hadn't even noticed she wandered off. He took a deep breath and walked into the countryside following the tug on his heart. He found her sitting on a tree, stump her head in her left hand while her right hand danced in the air over the ground below it. Green grass grew, and a delicate red flower rose up as if reaching for her fingertips. He could feel intense sadness from her as he approached, and she looked up as she felt his presence.
“I am fine, Gersius,” she said before he even spoke.
He didn't reply, only walked closer, and sat down on the stump beside her. She always looked lovely in her silvered armor. It was made to match his own, and the purple cloak with twisted red and blue dragons marked her as a dragon knight. She never wore the helm that came with it, preferring to have her head free. She always said her hair tangled in the helm, but he knew she simply hated the restriction of vision.
He put an arm around her and pulled her to his side, holding her firmly but saying nothing. She paused a moment, ceasing her channeling, and closing her eyes. Tears began to well up in those delicate angled eyes, and before long, a sniffle escaped her nose.
He closed his eyes and listened to her emotions across the bind. She was in turmoil, in pain, in confusion, in doubt. He could feel her struggling to keep her feelings in check. She let out a low wail and put her hands over her face as she finally lost the battle.
“I can't keep seeing my sisters beaten and butchered in this war!” she wailed. “I can't keep seeing our beautiful temples burned and broken. I keep trying to forgive, to remember that they are following a lie, but I am starting to hate them, Gersius.”
Gersius held her firmly and let her talk her pain out. Of course, she felt that way. Of all the participants in this war, the order of Ulustrah was suffering the most. The gentle priesthood of the Goddess of the harvest and fertility were kind and loving beyond all others. Now they were being hunted and killed for the lies of the madman of Calathan.
Thayle loved her Goddess and her order. She had such a strong heart for her faith that the Goddess chose Thayle to be her champion. Now Thayle saw town after town where her temples were burned to the ground, and her sisters hauled away to an unknown fate. Every day brought her more misery, and Gersius knew it was taking a toll.
“These men are not even priests. They are boys rushed through the ceremonies so they could press more people into the destruction of your order. They don't understand what they are doing.”
“I don't care what they are. I only care that they are burning my temples!”
Gersius took a breath, to hear the anger and pain in her voice was unsettling, to feel it across the binding link was frightening. Gentle Thayle was his wife, and so much more. He hoped that when this war was over, she would still be the soft and profoundly caring woman he loved.
He put his hand over hers and folded his fingers around it. Thayle looked down at the simple gesture and smiled even as she continued to cry.
“I am losing my strength, Gersius. I am struggling to be noble like you, to be strong and do what is right, but I am losing my desire to do so.”
Gersius squeezed her hand. “We all lose our strength at one time or another. No great person can walk a path of trials and not question why they walk it. I gave up on my mission when I realized how much it was hurting Lilly.” He Paused and listened to her cry a little more before continuing. “But the divines know when these moments of doubt come that they must intervene. In my case, they sent me a champion of Ulustrah to guide me back to the path. She showed me such love and kindness that I was able to heal from my doubts and continue.”
Thayle cried a series of short little wails almost as if she was trying to laugh.
“Lilly was your anchor, not me,” she said after a long pause.
Gersius got up and walked around the stump and knelt before her to look her in the eyes.
“Lilly and my path were lost to me, and I had nothing left to live for. You brought her back and showed her the truth of her heart. I gave up on her, Thayle, and I wanted to run away. You saved us that day in Eastgate when you brought our hearts together and united us in love. You, Thayle, are more than Ulustrah's champion, you are my champion. I owe you all the love and happiness I have. You made it all possible, and then you made the ultimate sacrifice and offered to have the children Lilly could not. You are the greatest woman I have ever known, and I will help you through this.”
Thayle shook her head in doubt. “How can you help me?”
He reached over and wrapped his arms around her sweeping her up and holding her to his chest. “I will face the foes you can't face. I will fight the battles you can't fight. I will heal you when you are injured, and I will feed you when you are hungry. I will never let you stand any trial or challenge alone, and if it comes to it, I will carry you when you can't go on. “
Thayle looked into his eyes and struggled not to cry again. She closed her eyes and put her forehead to his as she wrapped her arms around him.
“You may have to do a lot of carrying,” she sobbed.
“I am going to carry you back and put you in bed so I can hold you safe for the rest of the night.”
She nodded her head against his.
He channeled a small prayer of strength as he walked off, cradling her in his arms. He could feel her relaxing across the bind as she settled her head against his and let him carry her away. She felt exhausted now as if her outpouring of emotions had drained her. He reached the road and hurried to join Lilly. By the time he reached her, Thayle was asleep in his arms.
“Is she alright?” Lilly asked across the binding link.
“She is hurting over the suffering of her order,” he replied.
“Her people are suffering terribly. I feel sorry for her. What do you plan to do with her?”
“She is asleep now. I will carry her to our tent and put her to bed. I suggest you hold her tonight; she always seems to find you holding her soothing.”
“She seems quite soothed to be in your arms.”
Gersius nodded at the truth of if. While Thayle and Lilly were both his wives, Thayle was always more connected to Lilly. As he considered the woman now asleep in his arms, he realized that perhaps she felt just as comfortable with him.
“Why don't we place her in the center, and you and I can hold her,” he suggested.
“I like that idea, and she will love it.”
