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Jelena Turandot held on to a strap of leather torn off her bodice as she zipped along a pre-prepared rope sending her deep into the woods of Autumn’s Redoubt. She slowed as the rope leveled out, and then, when she was reasonably certain she wasn’t flying along at suicide speeds, she dropped to the forest floor.
A cushion of leaves broke Jelena’s fall. She jumped out, ensured her eyepatch was still in place, and then ran along her designated escape route. She just barely noticed the rope go slack, Calaf having cut off the zipline to prevent pursuit.
The sounds of battle were well behind them. A deathly warm glow of fire lit the path. Enkidu had a several-second head start which meant he’d already rushed well ahead to clear the path. He was holding a twelve-year-old on his back though, so each foot had an extra weight to it that made him easier to track.
One aspect of being integrated into the System that Jelena missed? Night vision. It was so much easier to denote a path and designate a trail of footsteps under the warm bluish glow of the Menu.
But this was no time to get distracted by the siren’s song of nostalgia. Jelena refocused and continued running. Ferns and branches rustled in her wake. The trail grew darker as it led away from the burning fort. So dark, that Jelena almost didn’t see a uniform golden sheen blocking her route.
Jelena stopped on a dime. Enkidu paced about just off the trail, testing this barrier with his sword. A handful of civilians waited on the opposite side of the trail. Some had rushed head-first into the barrier and had the bloody noses to show for it.
“There’s no way out!” cried one.
This small crowd was less than half of what Jelena had led to safety. They’d hit the barrier, panicked, and fled. Only, they were caged in here. Trapped by this barrier of gold.
Again, Enkidu paced from side to side.
“I should be able to force the barrier open temporarily if I can stab it at just the right angle.” Enkidu held his sword out, testing its weight. “It will have to find an opening at a microscopic level. And it will not stay open for long.”
Jelena held her chin in her hand.
“Hmmm. It had better work. Or this is the end of the road.”
If they only could have slain that Barriermeister. The whole thing would come crashing down. Alas, that hunter had a secret that put even his mortality into question.
Zilara stood dead center in the trail, observing all this with dull silver-colored eyes.
“I can do it,” she said.
“Oh?” Jelena glanced over. “You can make an opening?”
“Not just an opening,” said the holy child. “I can break it.”
Jelena’s eyebrow raised. “Hmm? You can do that?”
“Stand back.”
Zilara put a hand on the golden barrier. The Brands in her eyes refracted the glow.
Zilara, Holy Child Uses: State Edit (Deactivate)
Effect: Removes or Alters Object with Subjective Actions Based on Function. Turns ‘off’ physical/magical barriers and other obstacles.
Just like that, the wall of gold began to disintegrate starting where Zilara’s hands lay. This decay spread outward, leaving their path ahead wide open. The fleeing refugees didn’t wait for a cue or order, they just ran.
“That’ll allow anyone else who’s trying to flee to escape.” Jelena smiled, still looking at the holy child. “You are handy.”
A rustling of ferns came from the path at their back. Chainmail clinked together at the joints.
“Soldiers. Paladins, by the armor rating.” Enkidu sniffed the air.
Jelena offered a hand to Zilara. “C’mon, let’s mosey.”
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The trio ran for hours, heading west as far away from the church-controlled roads and trading posts as possible. The sun rose at their back, but they countered this loss of stealth by heading into the deepest parts of the forest. When the holy child grew tired, the pair of relic thieves took turns carrying her on their backs.
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Only after a day and a half’s constant flight across streams and through dire-elk mating glens to throw off their scents did Jelena and Enkidu deem it safe to stop and make camp. Even then, they went without a campfire.
“Whew.” Jelena rested her weary legs as she lounged about on a log. “Helluv a night.”
“Hoss…” Zilara closed her eyes and let out a pout.
“Kid,” Jelena’s expression softened. “C’mere.”
The relic thief hugged the holy child. Enkidu watched on, expression neutral.
“Missing the orphanage?” Enkidu asked.
“Actually, yes.” Jelena patted Zilara’s back. “We’ll keep you safe, kiddo.”
With the hug complete, Jelena looked into this child’s eyes. The twin eye brands, the mark of the Holy Cleric, were in both eyes. Impossible to Scour without rendering the girl entirely blind. And it would also make her stick out anywhere they traveled along the pilgrimage route. Merely having these brands, even with tenuous relation to the Archpope and the holy bloodline, was enough to make any lowly initiate an instant celebrity.
So long as Zilara lived, she’d be hunted by the church. As a distant cousin to the reigning Archpope and heir of the Paladin and Cleric of Yore, her very existence rendered her a walking risk of rebellion. And now this instant, living wanted poster was the ward of two criminals who were nominally trying to stay off the church’s radar for a while…
“Don’t worry,” Jelena said. “We’ll keep you safe. Isn’t that right, big guy?”
Enkidu grumbled. “Affirmative.”
“See, nothing to fear while we are here~” Jelena said in a singsong tone.
“Affirmative.” Zilara nodded.
“Hey, kid. About that ‘record’ feature.”
It was no feature of the Holy Menu that Jelena had heard about during her church-mandated education. Perhaps there were things about the Interface that even deacons of some renown did not understand.
“Yeah, it’s a background feature. Ready to go, never activated.” Zilara shrugged.
“Did it work? Did others have all that video… transmitted, to them?”
“Af-firmative.” Zilara nodded again. “Cut out around the time you pulled me out of the main hall. But I saw all three of those church hunters.”
“Can you play it back?” Jelena asked.
With a nod, Zilara got to work. It took some coaxing, but she retrieved the data.
“I want to see the bit where we encountered that barrier warrior. That Baldr.”
Or was it Baldr’natch? Jelene shuddered. That name pulled up some deep-seated, instinctual fear in her she couldn’t quite place.
“Guess neither of you have a viable Brand.” Zilara looked to her new caretakers in turn. “I’ll run the playback on mine. Even Brandless should be able to see it.”
The child’s eyes glowed once more. A familiar blue screen thereabouts four feet by three feet appeared at some distance from Zilara’s face, pointed outwards.
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A recreation of Joan’s last stand played out. She held Baldr, Walter, and Perarde at bay with naught but her skill, buffs from her followers, and a timely assist from Enkidu. It was like watching one of those passion plays, but in high fidelity that was freakishly adherent to the actual events.
“This is through Cayo’s eyes, isn’t it?” Jelena asked with a hint of sadness.
Zilara nodded, causing the Interface window to wobble.
“Can you stop the image while it’s playing?”
The video paused as Joan effortlessly blocked a sword swipe from Walter with her sword and bashed her shield against Perarde’s own. The interfaces of the three church hunters were visible.
“So I can tell when people are wearing false rings,” said Zilara. “Can’t dispel the Glamour rings at my level, but they’ve all got one. I can reveal their names and level ranges though. That’s how I caught your boyfriend.”
“He is not…” Jelena paused. “Ahem, yet.”
Zilara snickered.
“Just do your magic and show the titles, kid.”
Over on a stump of his own, Enkidu let out a rough snorting exhale.
“Here ya go.”
The three church hunters’ true titles were revealed in this video with a wave of Zilara’s fingers:
Name:
Baldr’natch, the Desolate One
“When Calaf said that name. It was from an old church book. Not scripture. More a bestiary,” Jelena said.
And for Walter, the agile one blending Battlemage and more rogue-like techniques:
Name:
Walter’teph, Sinner-Skewer
“Hell. That sounds bad,” Jelena said.
But the last hunter, though. The Hammer of Faith, had a true title that was less directly ominous but far from his church-official role.
Name:
Perarde Stonewall, the Prideful, Knight Templar of Unquestioned Order
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“I need to find some church archives. This is potentially a find of church-unraveling proportions!”
“Where are you going to go?” Zilara tilted her head.
To think that, even after taking her eye out and operating outside the Menu’s grace, Jelena had mostly been trying to keep to herself. At no point was she out to overthrow the church, though she’d slain a few ranking churchmen in her day. But with this, and with Zilara, apostasy was upon her whether she asked for it or not. All this, from having sold that relic to some wandering trader at fire sale prices.
Babysitter duty was still within the realm of Jelena's chosen role -- both the old one back at the Japella church mission's orphanage, and her more recent career as a relic hunter. Zilara was just a larger, brattier, more sentient relic than what Jelena normally nicked. And she always was good with kids...
Jelena shrugged. “We're heading back south.”
The burnt-over mission library at Japella may yet have some books left to pick through. And if not, the grand treehouse archives of Deepwood most certainly would. What’s more, they were going to need help.
“You’re going to go looking for him again aren’t you?” Enkidu asked.
Without a word, Jelena nodded.
There was at least one sympathetic figure in the region who still drew breath.
“C’mon, kid. We’re heading out,” Jelena told Zilara. “You too, Enkidu. Cut south, should put more distance between us and anyone tracking us from the fort.”
“Heh. Sure thing, new Hoss,” Zilara said.
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