Within the walled city of Pentamorel, glistening like a star among the sprawl of adobe, red houses and white pavilions, shone the brass-domed roof of The All-Mother’s Faithful Sisters' Convent of The Devout.
The midday sun rays struck the orange-tinted metal dome and cast a streak of golden light on the paved stone courtyard below. The beam of light bounced off the equally reflective dome of a bald-headed, tall, tattooed man wearing the rough-spun tunic of a Brother of The Devout.
Lecter raised his arm to shield himself from the vicious glare as he leaned against a marble pillar of the Convent’s outer courtyard. As a man, he was restricted from entering the Sisters' sanctum. Instead, he had been commanded by his recent charge to meet her outside the gate this morning.
Yet, here was noon and she was still nowhere to be seen. Not that he would complain, the young Sister Katri was beautiful, precious, and singled out by the All-Mother herself as one of the Chosen… and more to the point, the gorgeous psychopath gave Lecter the creeps.
Still, he thought to himself, she keeps things interesting.
The squeak of a rusty hinge alerted him to her approach. The clap of many leather sandals on the sun-bleach stone told him she was not alone.
A line of The Devout Sisters marched into the courtyard. Sister Katri was at their head. She stopped and her companions waited for her. Katri bowed and the Sister’s bowed back. They each walked in separate directions around the courtyard, forming a circle of vigilant clerics, each carefully monitoring their surroundings for unwanted onlookers or eavesdroppers.
“It would not do to be overheard,” said Katri, in response to the questioning look on Lecter’s face.
“Of course, Mistress.” Lecter bowed.
“Thank you for meeting with me, Brother Lecter,” said Katri.
“Not at all, Sister. I’m at your disposal.”
“And I’m glad for it,” said Katri. “I certainly feel safer with you around. It is a shame the abbess will not permit you entrance within the walls.”
“Tradition." Lecter shrugged.
“Quite,” said Katri, her voice thick with derision now. “While I condone the practice of attaining wisdom through adherence to tradition in the absence of insight granted directly by the All-Mother’s favour. It is a gross insult to adhere so strictly as to spurn a forthright recommendation from the All-Mother’s Chosen.”
Lecter didn’t entirely understand what she was saying, but he had a feeling he ought to agree. “Quite so, Mistress.”
“It was enough of a battle to secure admittance for my familiar,” said Katri. “And I was only successful because he himself shows signs of the All-Mother's favour. While the abbess continues to stick to her pointless traditions, I am unable to have you with me inside these walls. But rest assured, I will have further use for you and the new recruit.”
Lecter’s ears had perked up at the mention of battle, but he soon realised that she had been using the term loosely. It was a moment before he recognised she was expecting a report on the new recruit.
“Right,” he said, nodding. “The new recruit. Brother Jaspon, he’s called. Seems he’s more of spell user than a fighter like myself, but I can’t deny they can be useful. I asked him some questions about his loyalties and he gave the right kind of answers. He tried out for The Requiem a couple times, but couldn’t make it. Eventually he found his way to the All-Mother. I wouldn’t hold it against him, Mistress. I myself wanted to join The Gladium when I was his age, but I could never win enough fights to challenge one of them. It's only natural to wander a little before finding our way to the All-Mother's path.”
“That may be true for some,” said Katri. “Anyway, I’m glad to have him. I trust that you will show him the ropes and ensure he doesn’t step out of line. I don’t care if he has only recently discovered his faith or if it has been a passion since birth, his loyalty must be first and foremost to the All-Mother and myself. I will trust you to keep an eye out should he have cause to question such god-given facts.
“Now, I wanted to ask you.” Katri continued. “How are you faring since your fight?”
“I’m well again, Mistress.” Lecter flexed and rolled his shoulders. “Your healing touch works wonders and I’ve never been one to lay around feeling sorry for myself.”
“Quite so.” Katri smiled. “It was quite the performance. And of course, you deserve a reward.”
“Service to the All-Mother is reward enough for me, Mistress.” Lecter bowed.
“Nevertheless, the spoils of war cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Neglecting the loot would be dereliction of duty, wouldn’t you say?” Katri asked.
Lecter kept his head down, but a smile played across his lips.
Katri continued. “Of the items recovered from the corpse, there were only two of any real significance. The first being the graded gear that the heretic had been using to amass power. The fact that the heretic had chosen to empower the armour while his own status was still lacking, tells me that the equipment was likely dangerous in its own right. For that reason, I have decided that The Frontier should be gifted the gear that they might deconstruct it and ensure its sinful lure cannot infect any of the weak minds in this city.”
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The smile slipped from Lecter’s face and he stood tall once more. “I see.”
“Fear not, I am no more eager to gift The Frontier with more favours than they have any right to than you are, but we will need allies in this city if we are to achieve the goals the All-mother has in mind for us,” said Katri. “I was careful to absorb the XP contained within the artefact for myself. The Frontier Smiths have been presented with the gear, but not the wealth, so to speak.”
“Forgive me, Mistress,” said Lecter. “But I had hoped that you might grant me the armour. I could put it to good use in service to yourself.”
Katri seemed to consider Lecter for a moment, her expression guarded.
“And the All-Mother,” Lecter blustered. “In service to yourself and the All-Mother.”
Katri giggled. “Brother Lecter, please, do not think for a moment that I underestimate your loyalty or your presence of mind. There are simply other factors to consider. You may remember that I have taken on a familiar, Squiffy?”
“Yes, Mistress,” said Lecter, he nodded up at the top floor of the convent. “The small squirrel. I've seen him watching me from the window.”
“He was rather attached to the heretic,” said Katri. “For his own good, I think it would be worthwhile to keep any item recovered from the corpse well away from the poor creature until he has recovered from the corruption the heretic spewed. For that reason, I would ask that you keep this out of his sight for the foreseeable future.” She pulled out a book from within the folds of her gown.
“As victor,” said Katri. “I believe this rightfully belongs to you.”
Lecter gently lifted the book from her hands and smiled. “Thank you, Mistress.”
“As you well know, this tome will fetch a fair sum from any honest vendor,” said Katri. “I recommend that you read it for yourself first. There is much to be gained in honing the mind, Brother.”
“Of course, Mistress.”
“There is one other request I have for you,” said Katri. “See to it that the new recruit and his fellows are informed as well. Some of my Sisters have noticed strange movements in the night. It could be nothing, of course. But if any of you were to notice a certain squirrel sneaking in and out of the complex at night, you should follow him and see that he comes to no harm. I would be interested in learning his of his nightly activities.”
Brother Lecter chuckled. “Yes, Mistress. I’ll see that the new recruit understands just so.”
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From the small writing desk in the corner, Riffy leapt onto the pile of cushions on the floor. The velvet wrapped downy cushions provided the perfect springboard for his acrobatic spin high into the air. He spread his four small legs and bushy tail in a star formation and smiled as the force of his momentum brushed his fur flat across his chest.
His whiskers twitched as he soared close to the curtain and with a deft turn, he clutched onto the drapes with all four hand-like paws at once.
He scampered up the tassels and onto the wooden curtain rail atop the window. He curled his tail up behind him and gave his cheek a quick scratch with a hind leg before leaning over the rail to look down in the courtyard.
The scary man was talking to some new people. They were big lumps just like the scary man and everyone else in this malumpus jungle of leg-walkers and meanies. Riffy hadn’t seen a single squirrel since he arrived. Although, he did see some fat birds that came by and watched him from the rooftops. They didn’t talk to him though. The invisible wall named window was in the way.
Mistress Katri and Sister Franki had been teaching him all about the weird words in Common that didn’t make sense in Feral. Big lumps spent a lot of time making up words that weren’t very interesting. Riffy thought they were muck, muck, muck, but he wasn’t supposed to say that anymore. Mistress said it was bad to say fun words.
The scary man was saying something to the new meanies. He was probably saying boring words to the new meanies, Riffy thought. Then, he reminded himself not to think of them all as meanies. After all, best friend Null had looked like a meanie at first and he hadn’t been mean at all. But even if Null wasn’t a meanie, the scary man definitely was.
The scary man had tattoos and a rash on his big shiny head and the tattoos were chains. Riffy didn’t like the chains at all. They gave him a bad feeling.
The big scary man was still talking to the new people. He pointed up at Riffy’s window.
Riffy quickly jumped back so that they couldn’t see him as the group of new people all turned to look his way. His heart began to hammer inside his chest. Was the scary man talking about Riffy?
But Riffy knew he mustn’t be scared. Riffy was going to be a hero like Null. He was going to go on adventures. He had to train, like Mistress Katri told him. Training is very important, she always said. But the training she had Riffy do with Sister Franki and the whispering women was boring. Riffy didn’t want to Bloom. Riffy wanted to Zoom!
He ran along the curtain rail and jumped into the air. As he neared the wall, he stretched and kicked away from the white-painted stone and scrambled along the wall. Before he lost too much momentum, he flipped onto the bed, whipping his tail through the air to alter his course so that he could land mid-sprint. He dashed in a quick circle on the big-lump-sized bed and twitched his tail up excitedly.
This den was extra humongous for Riffy. It was much bigger than his old den, but it smelled much muckier here. The stench of big lumps was yuck, yuck, yuck. Riffy liked his new den though, but he wished he was allowed out in the people forest, the city they called it. Pentamorelump.
You must stay inside, they told him. Stay, stay, stay. It’s safe, they said.
Mistress locked the door each night and told him to sleep well, after she spoke for a long time about the Up Voice, or All-Mother as the Sisters demanded he call it.
They locked him in and told him to stay, stay, stay. But Riffy had a secret. Riffy had a big, big, big secret. He only had to wait until night time, then he would sneak out into the people forest again and practice becoming a hero, just like best friend Null.
Riffy smiled to himself. Yes, yes, yes, he thought. Riffy had picked the best Class, he knew it! All thanks to the Up-Voice-Mother. Reaching level one had been fun, fun, fun!
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