Omnixius
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DKP 4-16 A rightous burden
🕑 Added 2019-12-03 20:30:08 +0000 UTC
“This is a bad idea,” Tavis said as the column marched over the hill, revealing a sight they couldn't believe. Below them was a farm with several large paddocks for animals. A wooden palisade wall enclosed one of the paddocks. It extended around a nearby barn and a small shed providing the only shelter inside the enclosure. Milling around inside this wall was well over a hundred individuals who looked thoroughly miserable.
Outside the wall were dozens of men in armor. They walked in patrols around the wall to ensure nobody climbed over it. Others stood on watch near what looked like a gate on one side. Some men even had dogs to run down down any woman who managed to get away. The whole site had the image of a prison camp for those who were never going home. The kind of barbaric practice the priests of Astikar would have stopped a year ago.
Around him, Tavis heard men grumble, and women gasp as they looked down on the scene. They had been warned well in advance of what they might see. Jessivel made them all swear oaths that none of them would take action unless Jessivel did. He assured them that he wasn't leaving this place until the women in the camp were free.
Tavis wondered if he wasn't going to leave this place at all. He tapped Ayawa on the shoulder and pointed to the east where a watchtower and rows of tents stood on a hill.
“Is that a military camp?” Ayawa said as she sat up tall to get a better look.
“They must have five hundred men stationed here,” Tavis added as he tipped up his hat.
“They won't fight,” Jessivel said.
“And if they do?” Ayawa asked?”
“I will reason with them,” he said. “They will understand.”
“These aren’t priests of Astikar,” Tavis said. “These are men getting rich off the Father Abbots madness. Do you honestly believe they are going to give that up just because you said please?”
Jessivel made a sort of growl and pressed on approaching the camp with a stern face.
“Where is this captain of your order that was arguing with them?” Ayawa whispered as they got closer.
“I am sure he is still here, or my scouts would have come back, “Jessivel said.
“We may need his men when this turns into a bloodbath,” Tavis added.
“It will not come to that,” Jessivel said. “Just let me talk to the people who are responsible for the camp.”
“There isn’t enough shelter from the sun for all those women,” Ayawa said.
“No, there is not,” Jessivel replied. “All the more reason why we needed to come here.”
“Once we do this, they will be after us,” Ayawa said. “Word will travel fast, and they will know you are helping Gersius. Your bounty will be every bit as high.”
“Let me worry about the price on my head,” he said.
“You have more than enough worries, and you are about to add to them tenfold,” Ayawa scolded.
“It’s not like we can turn back now,” Herris added. “They see us coming.”
“Make sure the men appear to be escorting the others. I want them to think this is a prisoner caravan,” Jessivel said.
“We're going to start bloody well lying and deceiving people?” Herris asked.
“Captain!” Jessivel snapped with an angry tone. “I am trying to save people without bloodshed. If I have to lie to a corrupt noble to do that, I will lie like a swindler. Tavis is right; we don't have the strength to take this camp in force.”
“What happened to the faith we swore oaths to?” Herris asked.
“A madman became the leader of it and corrupted it from the inside,” Jessivel said. “We are going to undo that corruption.”
“Gersius is going to do that,” Ayawa said. “You’re going to help him.”
Jessivel sighed and called the column to a halt fifty feet from the first guards by the wall.
“See if you can get close to the wall and get some eyes on the ward,” Jessivel whispered to Tavis before riding forward.
Tavis watched him ride casually to the guards and bring his horse to a stop.
“What is this?” he asked, waving a hand to the palisade.
The two guards who greeted him glanced at one another and stood silent, unsure how to answer.
“I was told I could bring my prisoners here, and they would be well kept,” Jessivel added. “This enclosure isn't fit to hold the captives you have now.”
“Beggin your pardon Priest..” the man began.
“Lord seeker,” Jessivel corrected. “Captain of the order of seekers.”
The men jumped slightly, and the speaking man bowed his head slightly.
“Beggin your pardon lord seeker, but this is what we were told to do.”
“I am told you were to keep them safe and in good condition,” Jessivel said. “If you have orders to the contrary, I would like to see them and your commanding officer.”
The men exchanged glances again, and one of them shook his head, mumbling.
“Do you have something to say?” Jessivel demanded.
“No, my Lord, it's just your the second one in two days who come in here all angry about what's being done. We are doing as were instructed, and we have orders to keep double what we have inside.”
“You shouldn’t have half what you have inside that wall,” Jessivel said. “I want to see these orders, where do I find your captain?”
The man pointed with a spear to the farmhouse outside the wall.
“Captain Barns is in there, and more than likely, the other priest arguing with him.”
“Did you happen to catch this man's name?” Jessivel asked.
The guard dropped his arm and thought for a moment. “A captain Sallins I believe.”
Jessivel fought hard not to smile. Sallins was a hard as nails traditionalist who didn't take well with any tradition of the order not being followed to the letter. Sallins even spoke out when Gersius demanded his right to take his mission. Saying the order had no choice but to grant it as was Astikar's command. If Sallins was here, the camp was already half liberated.
“Thank you,” Jessivel said with a nod and turned his horse around.
“Herris. Keep them here until I come back. We won't be using this camp.”
“Aye Lord Seeker,” Herris said to grumbles from the people behind him.
“Keep your voices down,” Ayawa said in a sharp whisper. “If they come to inspect us and find out your all armed, this will go bad fast.”
“We should set a firing line,” Two crows protested. “Our arrows would thin their numbers long before they reached us.”
“Let Jessivel try to end this peacefully,” Ayawa insisted. “But be ready to form that line if he can't.”
She glanced at Tavis, and he nodded, dropping off his horse and walking across the yard.
“Excuse me,” he asked as he approached the guard. “Can you point out which of these men is a weaver?”
The guards looked curious a moment, and then one of them pointed to a man in fine pants and a shirt of grays and red.
“That’s Findris,” the guard said. “He’s the weaver in charge.”
Tavis tipped his hat with a thank you and walked toward the man.
He eyed the ground along the wall as he walked and caught a glimpse of red lines. He didn't want to gawk at them while so many were watching, so he played up his ruse. He approached the tall thin man with a gray, neatly trimmed beard around his face.
“Pardon,” he said with a bow before the tall, lanky man.
“Do I know you?” Findris asked.
“I understand you are the weaver in charge,” Tavis asked.
“That I am,” he replied. “What is it to you?”
“I am Tavis of the Cellic fire weavers,” he replied to a slight flinch from the man. “I understand you are maintaining a weave of great power.”
The man stood tall and proud before Tavis and gave a tight nod. “A powerful weave that only the most skilled of us could manage,” he said.
Tavis smiled at the reaction. This man clearly knew the reputation of the fire weavers as some of the most powerful in the land. He was trying to impress Tavis with his words now to show his standing. He would be easily played into revealing more.
“It must be,” Tavis said. “But there is no ward that blocks divine power.”
Findris smiled and folded his hands. “A great secret handed down through our particular chapter. One only the greatest minds would be able to comprehend.”
Tavis nodded, letting the man play up his power and ability.
“Would you mind if I looked at it?” he asked politely. “I have to admit I would like to bring news of this feat back to my homeland. They need to know that other weavers have achieved such things.”
The man smiled and swept his arm wide. “By all means, let me explain the nature of it.”
Tavis almost laughed out loud as the man offered to tell him everything. In moments he stood before the edge of the weave as Findris pointed out the various lines. He launched into a vague explanation that conveyed more of how great his power was than how it worked. Hidden inside all his boasting, he did explain some crucial elements.
“So this encapsulates the magic and keeps it alive,” Findris said as he went on. “With this in place, we need only refresh the weave about every eight hours.”
Tavis nodded and examined the lines. “There is no way to keep such ward in place with pure weaves. You must have anchoring objects.”
Findris nodded. “You are an astute weaver. There are five carefully crafted stones placed in perfect alignment around the ring. These carry a heavy enchantment that feeds the outer and inner weaves.”
“And those, in turn, keep the actual weave alive,” Tavis surmised. “You have accomplished a great work of weaving here.”
“I am pleased to know we have impressed even one of your caliber.
Tavis was indeed impressed, but he was also lost. The runes in the weave were all wrong. There was a strange blend of runes that didn't belong together. Some looked jagged and yet familiar. Some were holy in nature, not the tonal runes of typical weaving. If he hadn't seen priests of Astikar use some of these runes in artworks or special ceremonies, he would never have recognized them. More importantly, it was knowing how a weaver had shaped them. He had no tonal equivalent to match the runes and no concept of how to weave it with his hands.
“I have to admit I can't read these runes,” Tavis said. “But I do know they are not tonal, are they are spirit?”
Findris nodded as his smile widened. “We know much about the higher weaves in our country,” he boasted. “I am surprised to learn you fire weavers are not familiar with them.”
Tavis wasn't at all insulted by the remark. He continued to study the marks and make observations. It was here he made a startling discovery. It was the strange jagged runes that looked familiar. He noted there was one every third rune, and they were the largest in sequence. He thought hard about where he had seen them before. When the memory came back, he nearly toppled. It was in Calathen on the base of a statue to a dragon. The statue sat in an empty courtyard to a temple started long ago and never finished. It was a bit of a local challenge to find any man who could read the writing and translate what was written. He had gone many times to look at it, but the language was unknown to him. Still, he recognized the letters and was shocked to see them in use here.
“You said there are anchor stones?” Tavis asked, to be sure.
“Five of them perfectly aligned,” the man started, but Tavis cut him off.
“So, all you have to do is keep recharging the stone to maintain the weave,” he surmised. “You didn't actually create the weave, did you?”
The man sputtered, and his face soured as Tavis hurled his accusation.
“I do not like the tone of your words,” the man balked.
Tavis shook his head and tipped his hat up to glare into the man's eyes. He dipped into the flame that always burned within, and red light danced in his eyes.
“Who made this weave?” he asked.
The man took a step back and looked decidedly uncomfortable.
“A noble from the west,” he replied.
“His name?” Tavis asked. “I want to know who is the true master here so I can pay my respects.”
The man shook with frustration and spat out what Tavis wanted to know.
“Her name was Lady Carigara.”
“And where is this Lady Carigara?” he asked.
“She left just after the weave was established. She told us how to maintain it and walked off into the night.”
“A noblewoman walked into the night all by herself?” Tavis asked.
“She was a woman of exceptional power,” Findris spat. “I doubt you cellic fire weavers know half of what she does.”
Tavis nodded and tipped his hat down and turned away as his heart began to beat faster. Something about that name bothered him. It wasn't a name he knew from any people or culture. Surely if a woman of such power and unique name existed, he would have heard of her by now. He briskly walked back to Ayawa and climbed up on his horse.
“Did you learn anything?” Ayawa asked.
“Too much,” he replied. “And all of it is very troubling.”
Ayawa turned to regard him and frowned at the cryptic response. He noticed the motion and elaborated.
“The weave is a work of brilliance, a combining of three types of power, and was apparently made by a single individual.”
“Nonsense,” Ayawa said. “Even you couldn’t lay a ward that large by yourself. He probably lied to make himself sound like the better weaver.”
“I am sure the man was truthful,” he insisted.
“How can you be sure?” Ayawa asked. “I have seen how you weavers boast of your power.”
Tavis shook his head. “I realized he didn’t craft it and demanded the name of who did. It was an insult to the man to have to admit it. If he was lying, he would have insisted he did.”
“Do you know who the weaver is?” Ayawa asked.
“I have never heard of her before, but I did get her name. He said it was Carigara.”
Ayawa snapped her gaze firmly on him and pressed her lips into a tight line. “What culture is that name from?”
“I don’t know,” Tavis said. “But I do know that runes used in that weave are the same letting as on the statue in Calathen.”
Ayawa leaned back a bit as she thought about Calathen. “You mean the dragon one you kept studying?”
He nodded his head and looked back at Herris, who was eyeing him.
“That one statue in the yard all by itself that nobody can read?” Herris asked.
Tavis leaned over to draw all three of them into a conversation.
“I studied that text a dozen times. I know some runes used in that weave are the same as the ones on the statue.”
“So it’s a magic language,” Ayawa said.
Tavis shook his head. “I know all three of the major magic languages, and there are plenty of people who know the minor ones. If it was as simple as that, it would have been translated long ago.”
“What does this all mean?” Herris asked.
“It means there is a weaver in the world who can read that. She is on a whole level of power higher than myself, and she is helping our enemies.”
“This is important to know,” Ayawa said. “We need to get all this information to Gersius.”
“We wouldn’t have this information if we hadn’t come here,” Tavis replied. “Those weavers are just powering the anchor stones. I doubt any of them has a clue about how it works.”
“How do we break it?” Herris asked.
Tavis laughed. “That’s easy, remove one of the anchor stones. The weave will fail in less than a minute.”
“Didn’t you say that a weave can’t block divine power?” Gedris asked.
Tavis nodded. “This one has divine symbols in it. The weave is blending the divine with the world magic and this unknown language. It’s tying it all down in a way that is simple and brilliant.”
“Don't you need a tone and pattern to form the weave into a rune?” Ayawa asked. “How did she turn the divine into a weaved symbol?”
Tavis shook his head, unable to answer the question. “All I know is this Carigara can do it.”
“I don’t like this one bit,” Herris said. “What if this Karigara is still here?”
“The man I spoke with said she left right after the weave was set. She walked off in the middle of the night and was gone.”
“She walked alone into the night?” Ayawa asked.
“That’s what he said.”
“Maybe she lives nearby,” Herris suggested.
“He described her as a noblewoman from the west,” Tavis said.
“And she was alone?” Ayawa pressed.
“He implied that she was.”
“So a noble from one of the schools in the old empire,” Herris offered.
Tavis didn’t believe that for a second. He had visited many of these schools and found them vastly inferior to the ones in the east. They knew a handful of weaves and had but a basic understanding of the art.
“This woman would learn nothing from those schools. She has created a weave I can’t even begin to comprehend.”
“And you're a good weaver?” Herris asked.
Ayawa let out a slight chuckled. “Tavis is one of the most powerful weavers from the east. He could burn this camp to cinders before the alarm was raised.”
Herris was silent a moment and then sat back on his horse.
“So you were preparing to do that when we rode up,” he said.
Tavis let out a sigh. “The cost is very high. I would have killed us all, myself included.”
Herris nodded but kept silent as he looked ahead.
Tavis could see the anger on his face, and he let out a low exhale.
“We were afraid you were going to use us to deliver Gersius to the Father Abbot.”
“I understand why you would have done it. I am upset that we came so close to our end for such an unjust cause.”
Tavis nodded and looked passed him to the lines of men and the crowd in the middle. They all were suffering from an unjust cause.
“Let’s hope Jessivel can work this miracle he keeps dreaming of,” Ayawa said. “And let’s hope taking on this mass of people won’t slow us down too much.”
“We both know this is going to cripple us,” Tavis said. “We have to travel at a walking pace now.”
“And our trail will be obvious to anybody following us,” Ayawa said.
“And those bloody assassins are still following,” Herris said.
Tavis and Ayawa glanced at one another to be reminded just how deadly what was following them was.
“Even more reason we should keep running,” Ayawa said. “When they find the slaughter of that ambush, they will try to learn who caused it. They will figure out Jessivel was to blame in a day or two.”
“Assuming they didn't have a hidden lookout watching,” Tavis said. “In which case, they knew hours after it happened.”
“Assassins at our rear, the unknown ahead, and were taking on a huge volume of refugees,” Ayawa said with a shake of her head.
“Many of these women will know how to fight,” Gedris said.
Ayawa shook her head. “As well as you did?”
Gedris looked down and chewed a lip. “I can fight a little.”
“Not against assassins you can’t,” Ayawa said. “Or the trained soldiers of Astikar.”
“I am sure some of them are better fighters than I am,” Gedris insisted.
“But how will we arm them?” Tavis asked. “Or feed and shelter them on the march?”
“They have more shelter now than they will when we free them,” Ayawa added.
“We can cause plants to grow,” Gedris said. “They can bring trees to fruit just like I did.”
“So, all we have to do is find groves of fruit trees everywhere we go?” Ayawa asked.
Gedris let out a resigned sigh. “I know it will still be hard, but we do have some options.”
Let's wait to see if Jessivel can win their freedom,” Tavis said. “Or we may lose enough people in the resulting battle that we won't need as much.”
They all turned to look at the farmhouse for Jessivel. His horse was tied outside, and he was long gone through its door. He was likely arguing with whoever was in charge as they spoke.
“The earth mother have mercy,” Ayawa said. “No matter how this ends, our path is about to become much harder.”
Comments
Hmm do I like the spelling Karigara better than Carigara. Does the K seem more natural?
Thank you again!
WhiteRabbit
Father Abbots -> 's your all -> you're cellic -> Cellic Karigara -> Carigara
