Chapter Sixty-Eight

Faith In All Its Forms

At about the same time that Michael and Oliver discovered the inhabitants of the Travelling Forest, Rose, Sarah, and Raeken made it to the southern edge of the woodland border. As the forest thinned, they saw a wide meadow spreading out before them, and for leagues in every direction the rolling hills of the empire were non-existent. Around them, the tumbling red leaves had shaded brown, verging on dry and dead as they hit the forest floor.

In amongst the green flats ahead was a small set of huts all centred around a humble church-tower, decorated on its face with a great sigil, facing the direction of the sun in the east.

Rose mumbled a spell word beneath her breath and her wand stretched and grew in her palm until it was the length of a spear and the thickness of a branch. She’d found that people looked at her oddly while holding the full bow-staff, but more often than not people just assumed it was a walk stick.

Sarah watched the small movement and tiredly said, “I don’t think you’ll need to worry. It looks abandoned. What do you think, Raeken?”

The Drakonian made an indecisive grumble as he trudged onward.

Rose looked far across the land in every direction and saw nothing but barren glades and the small town. “Who builds a town so far from anything?”

They dragon and the two warriors wandered closer and found the town was only a dozen shacks in total, all surrounded by little crops and stretches of farmland, centring on the church and a water-well before its front door.

Rose caught Sarah’s arm as she continued walking. “I have an odd feeling about this place, maybe we should try round up some of the others first?”

Raeken glanced at his companion and gave her an uncertain look too, croaking softly as his dark green and black scales shuddered.

At Rose’s feet, long stems of grass and the faces of daises fondly nuzzled her boots as she fretted.

Sarah frowned and found herself realising that she’d been a sorrowful companion since the outburst of her friends. She took a sharp breath and said, “Or, we could go get into some trouble?”

The words drew a smile from her face as Sarah took off toward the town and Rose chased her, groaning from the effort. The Storm Drakonian padded along after them.

They quickly made their way to the centre of the small town where the symbol on the stone church-tower became clear, depicting a dark chain twisted into a spiral.

Rose’s smile fell away to confusion. “Is that a sect of Riinity?” she asked, noticing a graveyard in the land lying behind the church, which, while ominous, was not altogether uncommon in rural towns.

Sarah frowned deeply, shaking her head. Riinin denominations had to have the White Chain of Rii upon them. It was one of the few things all Riinin sects agreed upon. “Might be a cult, because that chain is supposed to be connected. We might be in Groria, somewhere north of Tagen city, maybe? A lot of small cults around there.”

“Maybe, though I hope not. I’d be pretty content to never visit Groria if I could avoid it-” Rose stopped talking when she saw the state of the church tower door.

Sarah and Rose moved closer and they found it covered in long, deep grooves, unmistakable from slash-marks. Raeken’s eyes landed on them too and a low, thunderous snarl crept from his throat, anxiously eyeing every possible exit route.

Sarah touched one of the splintered gashes and glanced to Rose with a haunted look. “A beast did this.”

“More than one.” Rose gestured to the varying size and shapes of the marks. On a hunch, she glanced to the grass upon which they stood.

It was mashed and thoroughly stamped upon, but only showed shoeprints.

Sarah shuddered as she looked to the houses, realising the doors on the shacks were similarly damaged and fractured or completely ajar. “Working theory?”

Rose glanced at the surrounding stone only to find it pristine besides some wind-wear. “No prints. Maybe bandits? Could be axe-marks.”

“They’re not.” Sarah followed the footprints in the soil with her eyes. Most of the tracks led to aa house. One set of footsteps lead another way, however, toward the unending flatlands.

Rose followed her eye-line too and frowned. “Someone made a run for it.”

Sarah began tracing the steps with her eyes and followed them until they moved up a slight slope in the land. The prints came to a sudden stop at the height of the hill, like the escapees had disappeared.

Rose gripped her bow-staff with both hands and whispered, “I don’t like this. Why aren’t there other tracks?”

Raeken pointedly shuffled his wings and croaked a handful of words in his cavernous language.

Sarah drew her sword and took it in both hands, feeling the nerves in her heart. “Raeken says the only things which don’t leave footprints when they attack are creatures which fly.”

Rose cursed herself for not thinking it sooner. “And something that isn’t strong enough to break stone. Probably a swarm creature.” Rose was getting a headache from the riddle. “Those rooftops are practically untouched, so they rarely touch down. Which means they’re probably quite lightweight, like birds.”

“Something that-” Sarah went pale and her words stopped as she looked back to the distant forest.

“What, Sarah?” Rose asked, stepping to her side in panic.

“Probably something that lives in trees… or was drawn to them...” Sarah mumbled. “We need to go back!”

“What if people are hurt? Look at these houses, there must be fifty people here at least and if they saw the monsters, then they might know too much! They’ll be in danger!”

Sarah wanted to ignore her but could see just how many doors had been torn free from their hinges or plainly left ajar.

Sarah swore beneath her breath and turned to Raeken, hovering idly by the well, and told him, “Go find the rangers. Keep an eye on them and see if there’s anything worth worrying about. We’ll see you soon at the meeting point.”

The Drakonian nodded before leaping into the sky, their scales shimmering emerald in the light. Sarah turned to face the door with Rose. “Let’s hope these people are having a better day than I think they are.”

Sarah gripped her sword and pulled the door handle only to hear an unsatisfactory clunk. “It’s locked. There must be a drop-bar behind it.”

Rose nodded to her curved sword. “Maybe you could break it down with that?”

Sarah grimaced a touch at the idea. “The gold in the blade is too soft.”

Rose sucked on her teeth but couldn’t help but ask, “With love and without judgement, what exact is the point of that?”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “It was a gift from my father. He had it designed for me when I told him I wanted to be a fighter. Never bought me another ball-gown.”

Rose looked at the mangled keyhole, wondering if she could kick through the thick panels of wood. “You don’t like dresses or you don’t like dances?”

“I love both, he’s just one of those one-or-the-other-type idiots. Oh, wait!” Sarah shouted, ducking to the grass in excitement as she picked up a single daisy, careful not to rip its roots. “Could you do your thing and move the drop-bar?” she pleaded, her eyes twinkling with excitement as she held out the flower like a baby bird.

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Rose chuckled and nodded, placing her bow-staff against the wall and stretched her fingers. “Wait, if there are people in there, we can’t let them see our Arcancy.”

Sarah cast her gaze to the surrounding hills, rolling on and on without a town or Imperial Highway in sight. “If those marks were made by monsters, chances are they’ve seen enough already. Besides, worst case scenario, we might inspire some folklore.”

Rose shrugged and summoned a surge of Arcancy and felt the heat collect in her elbow and spread along the bones of her forearms, crawling between the muscles until it finally burned the tips of her fingers. Covered in pale green energy burning through her veins, she lightly touched one of the flower’s white petals and the entire plant flexed back to life, sending its roots shooting into the soil like forks of lightning. The daisy’s stalk then began to thicken and lengthen as its petals spilled outward, sprouting to the size of Rose’s leg in a matter of moments.

Rose shoved the rapidly growing daisy at the foot of the door and watched as it forced itself under the door. The wood creaked and groaned and the wounds on its face of the door began to crack wider. The flower began to peak through the gaps in the planks and its leaves curled in amongst every opening.

Rose winced as the daisy, now well over five feet tall, burst out through the centre of the door and wooden entryway fell inward, crashing on the stone floor with an echo, leaving the enormous plant standing proudly in the gap.

Rose made a bland gesture and sung, “Tada!” and turned to find Sarah completely agape.

The inside of the church was about as bleak as the outside, differing only in the colour pallet, by which it was far darker and sleeker than the outside grey of the tower. The floor was polished black granite and the wooden pews were a rich, ebony wood. At the front of the church was a small, raised lectern shaped from black stone.

Rose and Sarah wandered into the church, weapons ready, and glanced around idly.

“The floors are scuffed, and a little muddy. These people were definitely in a rush,” Rose said, nodding to the central walkway between the sparse rows of seats.

“Agreed. These seats have all been bumped or moved, like people leapt over them or pushed them out of the way. Is that a book?” Sarah gestured to the lectern.

Rose stepped up onto the stage and found a black leather-bound tome with the same, dark, spiral chain impressed on the cover. She peered closer to find that the first and last links in the dark chain were not only disconnected, but depicted as broken, something she hadn’t noticed on the symbol outside. “Looks like a holy text. Kind of gives me the creeps if I’m honest, honey.”

Sarah smirked as she glanced at the only real piece of decorative art in the church, a stained-glass window behind Rose. “You don’t want to do a dramatic reading?”

Rose huffed and continued investigating the podium when she glanced to the floor by her feet.

Beneath the podium there was a stone slab but it wasn’t aligned with the lectern. The podium had been moved forward. She took a step back to see the edge of a grey, metal ring in the centre of that tile.

“I think this is a hatch! Give me a hand!”

Together they shuffled the lectern out of the way and linked their fingers through the dusty metal ring and with much grunting and curse-words, heaved the wide stone plate out of the way.

As light poured in, Rose and Sarah went pale as they found dozens of adults and children standing back in terror in a dark room below.

“Sweet Rii.” Rose knelt down. “Are you all okay?”

A dark-skinned Talisatian man came forward. His head was shaved and he wore black robes with a heavy iron chain around his neck, but much like the one on the book, it was broken on purpose, and hung like an iron scarf. “Who are you?” he asked, his voice deep and frail, despite looking no older than Jack.

Sarah spoke softly, “I’m Sarah, this is Rose. We were... just passing by and we saw your town. Is anyone hurt?”

The deep suspicion in the man’s face alleviated somewhat and he looked solemnly to his hands. “Those here, protected by our Lord, are safe, but the many fled, and I suspect are with Him now, facing judgment for their ill faith.”

Rose frowned at his words but said nothing. “Want a hand?”

He reached out and Rose and Sarah hauled him up.

Rose had studied the Holy Church of Riinity at the fortress library, and there were Five Seraphs in their holy text- the Ionadae. Each Seraph was responsible for helping create the world. Thall the Dark, was the creator of life and ambition. Gror the Powerful, was the maker of water and strength. Arh the Talented, was the sculptor of land and beauty. Yue the Wise, was the father of wind and wisdom, and Rii the Righteous, was the bearer of light and love. Gror’s symbol was the wave, his mark of the sea. Arh’s symbol was the mountain, a natural monument to God. Yue’s symbol was the gust of wind, ever-swirling around the world. Rii’s symbol was the white chain. Eventually, it was used to bind Thall and imprison him in him in divine light after Thall turned from god.

As the dark priest climbed out of the cellar with Sarah’s help, Rose looked at the broken chain around the man’s neck. She knew full-well it wasn’t the symbol of Thall, for that was a flame, burning black as shadow, one of the only illegal symbols in the Talisatian Empire besides the mark of the Northern Wall rebellion.

Rose held a small suspicion in her mind, but couldn’t get Sarah’s attention without creating an audience out of those being pulled back up into the church.

As Sarah helped the rest of the others out of the dark cellar, all dressed in the same robes with the same short haircuts, she called, “So, what happened here?”

The priest picked the book off the podium, and whilst it was tucked under his arm, he stepped down to the church floor and started straightening the pews. “A plague of demons swarmed to the dark forest which grew nearby. I assume you have seen it?”

Rose leant on her staff and nodded, still trying to dissect the meaning of his chain. “Yes, we’re with... a travelling caravan. We saw the forest from a distance but our maps didn’t show one so we went to investigate it and found this town on the way.”

Sarah, subtly impressed by her lie, glanced at her and finally saw the uncertain look on her face. Sarah frowned, mouthing, What?

Rose watched the children of the church all begin straightening the pews alongside the head priest. Bad feeling, she quickly mouthed back before announcing, “We ought to be going.”

Sarah nodded, stepping off the stage toward the door. “Yes. We’re glad you’re okay.”

The head priest stepped into the central pathway, wearing a calm smile. “You must stay for something to eat. You say you are with a travelling caravan, but the nearest road is some ten leagues from here. You must now be hungry, no?”

“We ate on the way, but thank you.” Rose smiled politely and turned to Sarah, mumbling, “These people are safe, we need to check on the others. Whatever was here is probably in the forest again.”

“Raeken would’ve come back, if they were,” Sarah whispered, side-on before she cleared her throat and asked the neatly standing man, “These demons, what did they look like?”

The priest thoughtfully cocked his head and then blinked, refreshing his wide smile. “Why don’t I show you? We have one in our crypt. It chased our mortician down the stairs and we managed to seal it inside. Perhaps you could come take a look?”

Sarah gave him a wide-eyed frowned. “You caught one? That’s far more dangerous than you can know.”

“Our Lord protects us,” he said, fondly touching his iron chain. “Would you like to see?”

Rose took Sarah’s arm and gripped it rather firmly. “Hard no,” she whispered.

“We need to know if it’s anything worth worrying about,” Sarah replied, “especially if they still have one locked up.”

The priest turned to lead them away and at that exact moment the Legacies cringed, both having forgotten to remove the Draendican-sized daisy slumped over in the doorway.

His face was a tapestry of confusion and distress. “Did you do this?”

Rose was so shocked by his change of pace that she couldn't think of a lie. Sarah jumped in, muttering, "No, don't be ridiculous. It was- uh- already here."

Rose grimaced through the delivery and the priest shook his head. He looked over the giant daisy and muttered, "You conceal yourselves."

There was a painfully long beat. Rose tightened her grip on her staff when the priest’s look of horror slowly melted to a smiled of disbelief.

“You are Maidens of God.”

Sarah cringed at the wording and said, “I really wouldn't put it like that-"

Rose interjected, "We wouldn't put it like anything. That was here when we showed up, like she said."

Sarah nodded emphatically. "Exactly. But look, why don't you show us this demon. Maybe we can help."

The priest glanced at the door, almost fully tilting his head and took a long pause. His hand idly grazed the fractured link on the end of the chain and he smiled bright. “You know... perhaps one of you should stay here. Help fix the church door. It will be dark soon and we will need this House of God made safe. And the other can come with me?”

Rose upturned her palms in confusion. "Fix the door? You got a whole village here and not one carpenter?"

Sarah hushed her but it was through a suppressed smile.

“If this plant is magic-born, none of my people will touch it... Please."

Rose sighed and looked over his shoulder to the others. They were milling silently, watching the exchange, but no one came any closer, and she knew he was half right.

"It won't take you long, surely. In the meantime, I can show the beast to this young Maiden?” he said, smiling brighter every time he spoke, his dark chain rattling with his gestures.

Sarah looked to the enormous plant, so heavy it couldn’t hold up its own weight, and sighed. “Probably the least we could do. Go on. I’ll be right back.”

Rose chewed on the thought when the priest stepped though, shouting, “Perfect! If need be, ask one of my congregation to bring you to us-"

Rose raised a finger to the priest and he fell quiet. "One mo', Father."

The priest looked almost eager to argue but the weight of Rose's gravity was palpable. He nodded, still smiling and stepped through the door. "I'll be outside, ma'am."

Rose looked at Sarah and stepped close to keep their conversation quiet. She whispered, "Something's going to happen if you go with him."

Sarah cocked her head. "You're worried about me, dear? Come on, that guy looks like a strong wind would knock him down."

Rose huffed and nodded, "Just don't let him catch you off guard. I'll be right behind you, okay?"

"Promise. See you soon."