“The what?” he blinked. Something about this room being called the Sacrificial Pit and the way she said it made him feel a shudder in his spine. She ignored him and went to a hole in the wall- no, it was like a recessed stone cabinet with a bunch of tools and items inside it.
“Place my flower over there,” she pointed to an empty stone ledge as she shuffled between the shelves.
He went to put the plant down, his arms thanking him for the relief of putting the weight down. He rotated his shoulders and cracked his neck as he approached Lapis. “The Sacrificial Pit,” he said in a questioning tone.
“Where you sacrifice something and get healed depending on the sacrifice,” she said, holding some sort of a rock, clear crystal, between her index and thumb, raising it to the air to look inside. She dropped the crystal rock into a smooth bowl.
“Oh,” he said, “I brought a citar for that, should I go get it or-” he half turned.
“There is no need, your sacrifice is already chosen by the goddess,” she waved. “I said, your sacrifice has been chosen,” she gestured with her eyes when she saw the confusion on his face. Then he heard the faint footsteps behind him.
“How many times should I tell you,” a man, tall and skinny, in robes much like Lapis’ said in a stern voice. “No healings are allowed after the temple has been closed. Do I have to listen to the guards complain about you threatening them, ignoring the rules, and bringing in the…” he gave Theos a long head to toe scanning look before he continued, “injured strays.”
Theos would’ve felt insulted, if he wasn’t injured, and in a manner of speaking a stray. It did help that the man in front of him was radiating a certain feeling of danger despite of how he looked.
“Father,” she said, bowing, “this is master Theos, an injured son of a great merchant and a very generous donor,” she said. Theos blinked and wondered how to react to all this information he didn’t even know about himself, Lapis gave him a quick look, one too pointed, something that meant he should play along, perhaps?
He decided to bow to the man, the way the others used to mock bow Heras when he was snobby eating.
“And what did this young great merchant’s son bring for you to insult my guards in front of him, and bring him into this sacred place?” the man asked, Theos felt that his eyes were still on him.
He rose from the bow and watched Lapis approach her father, handing him the gold charm she bought earlier. The blue gleam of the gems looked even stronger inside the flames-lit room. The man grabbed the charm out of Lapis’s hand and inspected it closely.
“Apologies, young master,” the man eventually bowed back – a tiny movement of the head that looked more akin to a nod than a bow – and handed the charm back to Lapis. “This daughter of mine is well known for bringing the serfs and urchins into these holy grounds,” he gave her the same scanning flat look he gave him earlier as he finished.
“That is quite admirable of the young lady,” Theos said with a smile, trying to resist the urge to laugh. She gave him an amused look as her lips twitched. “My people appreciate those who tend to be the least fortunate amongst the people.”
“Those least fortunate that she brings about end up stealing from the temple,” the man said with a grunt, “did you prepare the young master for the healing?”
“Not yet,” Lapis said, “I was just making the purifying powder.”
“Very well,” her father nodded. “What manner of wounds are we healing for you?”
“Uh,” Theos stuttered, unsure of what to tell the man, shades were well known to exist near the black desert, or in very deep crevices. He looked to Lapis, hoping for help in this strange lie he found himself entangled in.
“Master Theos fought off a shade that strayed out of the Cursed Desert and was attacking others; it is rather admirable of him,” she said, voice filled with fake admiration. “The tale I heard about it makes the temple guards look like caravan hands, in comparison.”
“I would like to hear that story, should the time permit,” the man said, face still unreadable. Theos stared back for a while before realizing the man was waiting for an answer.
“I do not know how long I will be staying here,” he admitted, “I was planning on finding emp- trying my hands on new ventures,” he decided, not knowing if that was vague enough, or impressive enough.
“He is trying to be his own man, harden his twigs, and build his own wealth,” she helped. Hardening one’s twigs was something that the people used for the softer, higher class children who knew nothing of the world, and it didn’t sit well with him being implicated with that.
“Being self made, seeing the world on your own, is always the right path,” the man nodded in approval, “should you find yourself stuck, we could always find a fine young man such as yourself a place within the temple.”
“I would be so grateful,” Theos lied. He did not want to be a temple guard, and he knew little to be a priest. Never mind the whole issue of being caught in this noble son’s lie. “I need to be fixed, first, can’t let these small wounds take me down.”
He nodded before turning to Lapis. “Please see to it that the young master gets the blessing of the goddess,” he added as he turned to him, “I hope we can sit down and meet later, young master.”
“Circumstances allow, most certainly,” a noncommitment, Theos nodded as the man left.
Lapis walked by him and went back to preparing the things in the bowl. “That went well,” she chuckled.
“Really?” Theos raised an eyebrow, “A nobleman’s son looking to harden his twigs in Shinar, bringing a gift most wanted by the goddess?”
“Trust me,” she said as she crushed leafy things with her fingers. “You won’t like the price you will have to pay if you come here by normal means.”
If a golden charm, encrusted with gemstones that were polished and cut by professional goldsmiths, was something preferable to whatever he would have to give them in a normal visit, he wouldn’t want to know what he would have to pay. “So what, am I a charity case for you?” he grinned.
“I wonder,” she hummed before returning a smile. “Here, grab this bowl while I get the knife,” she said.
“A knife,” he narrowed his eyes but took the bowl off her hands, “that wouldn’t be why all this blood is drying on the center of this… circle, would it?”
“Want to find out?” She took out a smooth black knife, glossy and made entirely out of the same material.
“Don’t wave that thing around,” he grumbled, “don’t need another wound in me.”
“I’ll heal it if I stab you,” she wagged her eyebrows and made a mocking swing.
“Okay, careful there,” he said, leaning away.
“So much for the great hero who fought the shade to save the innocent people,” she huffed out.
“You made that up,” he said in mock offense. “And now your father wants me to teach the entire city how to fight sphinxes or something.”
“Just a couple of golems, at best,” she said, “fill the bowl with water from the fountain.” He went to fill it before she added, “just to the middle!”
He did, watching the contents swirl and dissolve into a pink broth. “What is this?”
“First you will remove your tunic – and trousers if there are wounds underneath,” she said, wagging the knife still, “then you will wash in the water, using this-” she pointed at a piece of cloth with a powdery substance next to it. “Cloth into the water, powder on wet cloth, rub on your body until it becomes a foam,” she pointed at each thing as she talked about it. “Then after you are done, you will purify using the salts in the bowl, rubbing the wounds with them; it will sting but you will have to do it.”
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“I have to be naked?” he blinked. “In front of you?”
“Everyone always says that,” she groaned, exaggerated and long, “I’ll leave until you are done.”
Theos looked back to the entrance that had no door and wondered what would stop anyone from just seeing him. Especially her.
“Then after you are done purifying,” she interrupted his thoughts. “I’ll take this knife to the wounds, then we will make the goddess fix you up!”
“Sounds fun,” he shook his head, “especially that part where you stab me. Why are you so insistent on stabbing me, my lady?”
“I wonder,” she looked at him, “why do I want to stab you, Theos of the outposts?”
“Stop,” he stepped in and grabbed the wrist of the knife hand, “threatening me with stabbing,” he added with a smile.
Lapis smiled at him. Theos smiled back, then the world spun and he hit the ground with a grunt, she stood over him, hand gripping his arm. “Do not touch me without permission,” she walked away, still waving the knife, “that’s how you threaten someone, sir Theos of the noble house of outposts.”
Theos laid there on the floor, watching the roof of the room spin, his mind thinking a single thought. Why was everyone so good at beating him up?
-
The washing went well, without anyone peeking well, and it felt weird. Rarely did he get to wash in flowing warm waters, which made for a better washing experience, he found. The cloth scratched his skin in a satisfying manner, it took out dirt and sand that he didn’t know were resting on his skin.
The powder was less pleasant, he expected a little bit of burn, like when they placed the ointment on their wounds in the outpost. Placing the powder on the shade wounds was more like putting his wounds to the torch; he placed it to no effect at first, on his left shoulder, neck, right thigh, right arm, and on both of his flanks, then he felt them heating up, slowly, at first, then they flared so intensely that he nearly fainted.
He sat on the ground, now, the heat subsiding to a gentle, cooler feeling.
“You shoved that powder pretty deep,” Lapis checked the wounds, “good thing you didn’t pass out into the water.”
“Yeah,” he said weakly, still feeling the deep pull inside his soul, “horrible thing, this powder.”
“It pulls out the spiritual energy,” she explained. “Those black veins are gone now, so it has done its purpose at least.”
He nodded, the pulsating and the spreading dark was no longer there, but the wounds persisted. Then there was this horrible, familiar headache that was stabbing through his temples.
“Okay,” she said after checking the wounds. “I will take the fragments out of those injuries, so make sure not to move.”
“What?” he tried to turn his head but she eagle clawed his head in place. “What fragments?”
He felt the stab into the wound, but it was dulled like he was being stabbed in a dream rather than reality. “Don’t move, or you will have a worse wound on you,” he heard squishing as she pulled something out, those fragments she mentioned, it was akin to removing a sting out. Lapis showed him the slithering piece that she removed, “shade fragments, it’s why the wounds get that black goo spreading around. They are weak though, so it takes long before they can do what they are supposed to do.”
“And what is that?” he watched her toss the writhing thing into a jar.
“Turn a person into a shade,” she said, leaning in to check the wounds on his flanks. “It is how new shades are made.”
“Huh,” Theos never knew that, “so shades multiply like ghouls.” She gave him a strange look, almost questioning. “Ghoul's bites turn you into a ghoul if you die, but not many people end up dead from the wounds themselves because they are cleaned and dressed soon after.”
“That does feel similar,” she nodded as she pulled a smaller piece with the knife’s point, the writhing fragment squirmed on the blade until it just became limp. “Are people who turn to ghouls easier to kill?”
“It is never easy,” he hummed. “I mean, if you mean like if I feel like I’m killing a person, I still do, but it doesn’t bother me as much anymore,” he stared at one of the engraved stones to distract himself as she moved to his thigh. “They die, in a manner of speaking, after a single hit to the head or heart, but hit them again…” he made a biting gesture.
“They come back to life?” she blinked. “This wound is tricky,” she grunted as she angled the knife around, he jerked from the pain as she pushed deeper. “Don’t move.”
“Well it freaking hurts,” he hissed. “They come back to life unless you remove their head, then there are these ghouls with powers, we call them masters. Those move around bringing ghouls back to life, even the decapitated ones, so we have to burn them after decapitating the body.”
“That sounds gross,” she squinted, then her eyes went wide, “got it!”
“She said as she pulled out a squirmy black shade part… Are these all of them?” he grunted as he checked the wound on his thigh, it was still open and was now bleeding. “I think I need to be stitched.”
“Now, now. There would be nothing of that in the presence of the goddess,” she grinned. “Okay, give me your hands,” she put her hands out.
“Do I have permission, or will you flip me like you did before?” he said.
“You have permission to be healed by the goddess,” she said in a haughty voice.
“Thank you, merciful goddess,” he lowered his head and extended his hands, “for your mercy and healing.”
He felt her hands, soft and warm, grab tight onto his. He raised his head and watched her, eyes closed, mouth mumbling what seemed like a prayer, much like the way he prayed to Amu. it lasted for a few moments before he started feeling the change, the pressure in the air, the headache worsening. Light slightly became purple as the chanting continued and the sweat beading on both his and her bodies.
“Whew,” she wiped her forehead.
“What was that?” he said, head throbbing with pain.
“Well, your wounds are healed,” she said, pressing her hand on the tender looking spots that replaced the wounds. “That was very exhausting, for some reason.”
“No kidding,” he pushed with his palms on his head and closed his eyes. “I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
“Most people feel better after this, not worse,” she said, breathing hard.
“What about you?” he smiled through the pain, “you look worse for wear yourself.”
She laughed, clearly tired. “It takes its toll,” she stood up, “come, I’ll show you around while we recover.”
“I don’t think moving right now is the best of ideas,” he replied, eyes closing from the sudden migraine. Where did he feel such a headache before…
“Don’t be a baby,” she said, pulling on his arms and failing to get him up, “I need to eat, and if you stop between me and the food, I will bite you.”
He groaned and used the leverage to pull himself to his feet. “At least I didn’t need permission this time,” he chuckled.
“Hush,” she slapped his arm as she began walking.
-
They did not find food in the temple, unsurprisingly, for it was a place of worship, and the place where the guards and priests ate was dangerous grounds, according to Lapis. Eventually, they decided on hitting the market to find something from the stalls.
Theos wanted to get the kebab sticks, but Lapis refused, the mystery meat was not a problem for him but she heaved as soon as she smelled them, he told her that she needed the meat to get her energy back, and she refused. She wanted to have fish, but he had to refuse, but they had a sickly sweet scent of rot about them, and he did not want to risk poisoning by not knowing how fresh the fish was. She argued that she could heal them if needed.
They eventually settled on honey bread, which he paid for, it was too sweet for his taste but otherwise an acceptable warm meal. “This is barely food,” he told her.
She said something through a mouthful, both hands on her bread and munching on it like a desert jumping rat. She continued talking, and he understood nothing of what she was saying.
“I must confess,” he said as he took a bite, “when I kept hearing people calling you ‘my lady’, then saw you act all noble like with those guards, I was starting to get worried.”
She mumbled something that sounded like ‘about what?’, or at least he heard the thing he expected to hear.
“I was worried you were like this noble like girl with those weird habits and people you hang with and stuff,” he took another bite, “turns out you are just a person who talks with her mouth full, just like Na’heb.”
She looked at him with both cheeks full, she did not try to speak this time.
“He is this big fella I was with in the outpost,” he said, “our captain, Moswen. The guy who is annoyingly good at everything, but a snob, Heras. And Na’heb, the big guy with a good heart, but also a big stomach.”
“My stomach is not big,” she swallowed, “and this is one of my favorite foods, I don’t get to eat it much in the temple.”
“Well, I’m glad that you like it,” Theos tossed the last of the bread in his mouth, “but I need some meat in me, and I brought a citar all this way to sacrifice it to the goddess, so…”
“You are not sacrificing that poor animal,” she gave him a threatening look. “Or slaughtering it.”
“I hate them,” he grumbled. “No, I don’t hate them, actually, I loathe them.”
“Because you herded them?” she said, finishing the last bit of her bread.
“Yes,” was the only answer he needed.
“Theos of the outposts,” Lapis patted her hands clean of the crumbs, “for someone who is surprisingly carefree, you sure can hold a grudge.”
“You have no idea,” he smiled. “I am content with playing the long game.”
“Is that because you can’t fight well?” she teased.
“I can fight,” he grumbled, “everyone else just seems to be better at fighting. And some of them seem to do magic, too.”
She smiled. “Not magic, just the blessings of the goddess.”
“Speaking of the goddess,” Theos said, “you think the new Astral will be kinder than the last one? The outposts got really terrible after he got picked.”
“We are going to get a better one,” she thought, “I mean, I hope we do, the goddess does not pick wrong, you know?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I have the same faith in this as you do,” he grumbled.
“Tell you what,” she said, turning towards him. “Let’s go to the top of the temple, I can show you the arena and the pit.”
“Sure, I guess,” he smiled and followed her towards the temple.