Chapter 14

Lilith extended her hand to the former champion and got a firm handshake in response. “Lilith, secret agent extraordinaire” she said with a sly smile.

Sharl held her arm still not letting go as if he was holding it hostage “Secret agent for whom?”

“Well that’s a secret.” her smirk now turning to a full grin.

“Oh, got me. I walked right into that one” he said while he threw her hand back at her.

“I was glad to see you could take a joke in good humor after Father Theo put you on the spot like that.” Lilith looked at the young man squarely in the eyes catching his gaze. He was about the same height as her and she could tell he had a lot of confidence as he looked back at her with the same intensity.

“Oh that was nothing. He warned me ahead of time or ah one of his pages did.” He waved off the compliment with one of his hands.

“So, what did you do that got you named as the town’s champion?” Lilith asked, somewhat curious but also wanting to see how embellished, or honest, this story would be.

“Well I won the sword fighting tournament 3 years in a row so Sir Tanel gave me a promotion and put me in charge of training the men on sword fighting. Its been 3 more years and I still haven’t lost a match.”

“Well then I might need to get some sword fighting lessons from you.” He hadn’t embellished a thing and Lilith could respect that a lot more than a braggart.

“From me? No you did fine. Got em in one blow, I was watching from the battlements. I was also there when you grabbed that Succubus who had been offing our citizens too. I was the one that picked up the knife she dropped… how’s your arm anyways?” He asked before reaching down to grab her arm.

Wendel and Celeste had been watching the exchange in a bit of amazement. They could both see the chemistry between them.

Lilith presented the underside of her right forearm revealing no scar whatsoever. “Its fine not even a scratch.”

“That’s a neat trick.” he gave a bit of a knowing look to see if she wanted to explain further.

Lilith noticed that he had his fair share of scars too. None too obvious but she could see them as she studied his face. She also noticed him looking her up and down a few times but she didn’t really care. ‘He is probably looking at my armor anyways’ she thought. “Those scars, what do you use when you spar, blunted blades or wooden weapons?”

He paused for a second, hand at his chin but it was Celeste that answered the question causing the two of them to turn away from each other for the first time in a minute. “They use wooden swords in the tournament. That's where he got most of them.”

“Ya Celeste was one of my biggest fans this year. When we are all kitted up with armor we can use the blunted blades. We wear padding for the tournament though. Even wooden blades can burst a lip or break the skin if you walk into one the wrong way. It also does get pretty competitive but that's the point I guess.” he had looked down at Celeste to flash her a happy smile but was looking back at Lilith again.

“Do you have a wooden greatsword with a 4’ blade anywhere on hand?” Lilith cocked her head as she asked the question.

“Hmmmm. There was a guy who used one in a tournament a few years back, but he took it with him. I mean it was his, so….. But I have been looking for an excuse to have one made.” Sharl was thinking ‘I hope she is thinking the same thing I am’

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“Can you get two made?”

“Sure I will ask Tany but I don’t’ think it will cost much” Sharl gave himself a mental high five and thought ‘well it does take two to tango’

“Great and where can I find you should I want some sword lessons before then?” Lilith was very excited about the sword fighting lessons. She had always wanted to LARP and now had the perfect excuse.

“My offices are in the tower wall next to the Drill Field. But I might be filling in for Tany since he has new duties. If you need me ask a guard.”

“Will do.” Lilith looked a little awkward not knowing where to turn to next as she thought he was leaving the temple but he was still standing there. So she walked around him to find a very bored Wendel and a star struck Celeste.

“I don’t know about you but I am ready for some lunch.” Wendel said with obvious agitation.

Lilith was excited to get some real sword training. It would be her first skill that would be actually useful here. But at the mention of lunch her attention quickly changed. “Where do we go for lunch?”

As they walked away Lilith barely heard Sharl say something to himself that sounded vaguely like “Still not a deal breaker”.

Wendel chimed in “Well we are employees of the Duchess’s court so we eat in the banquet hall along with the rest of her staff.”

“Unless you want to try one of the Inns or Taverns” Celeste added.

Lilith was pretty hungry and needed to get back to her room so she suggested the banquet hall as usual. It was the free option after all. So the three of them returned to the Ducal Castle and sat down after filling their plates. Lilith ate a bit more than everyone else but mostly that was because the food tasted so good to her. Afterwards the two wizards excused themselves to go prepare some spell components that were needed for their various wards and experiments including the magic circle. Celeste complained about having to clean the inside of the magic circle and how it really wasn’t necessary. After they had cleaned their plates and said their good byes Lilith returned to her room to finish the work she should have began that morning.

Sitting down at the vanity desk, Lilith began the drawings on a new type of shield made for formation fighting. It was oval shaped but had a cutout for where the hand was. It also had straps to hold it firmly on the forearm thus freeing up the hand to help hold the larger spears that she was drawing next. She was halfway done with the first drawing when she felt a familiar but new sensation, she needed to use the restroom. Walking down the hall to where Celeste had shown her the day before, Lilith was a bit apprehensive as to what the facilities might be like. Luckily, they had a water bucket with a sea sponge in it to help with the cleaning process. After she had done her business and cleaned herself with the sponge she noticed that there was no running water to clean her hands. Thinking for a moment she decided to use Prestidigitation on them and then used it on her backside as well, because why didn’t she think of that before she had tried to use the sponge. Aside from the no running water thing it was actually a pretty usable restroom. A stone seat that dropped some ten feet down into a sewer.

After getting back to her room, Lilith finished both drawings just after the clock struck five. With her work done Lilith began to reflect back on what Father Theo had said in his sermon. That parable, it was obviously a coded message to her but it had 3 meanings. Wanting to make sense of it she began to recall the story to see what the message might mean. The parable took place in a town where Jesus stopped an angry mob from stoning a woman to death who had been accused of adultery. Standing between the mob and the woman he said ‘let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’

The first meaning is the obvious one: You are acting as our agent and we know how to communicate with you covertly. Well this was good, it was far less likely that she would be attacked or banished by a cleric of Lathander then. Now she only had to worry about all the other clerics and paladins in the world who served the many other gods.

The second meaning was to the person holding the stone: Don’t be so quick to judge, no one is perfect. Were they trying to say don’t worry we know you aren’t perfect. Or were they saying don’t be so quick to judge others? Lilith wasn’t sure on this one.

The third meaning was clear but she didn’t know who it applied to: Everyone deserves a second chance. Or at least a chance to repent. In effect it stopped the practice of dolling out permanent punishments for crimes that could be fixed or forgotten. Like stealing or adultery.

For a second Lilith considered that Lathander wanted her to forgive Pencheska. But that made no sense at all. She hadn’t committed minor crimes she had killed over 30 people. So they must want Lilith to forgive someone else, someone that she hasn’t met yet. “All this thinking makes my head hurt.” Lilith looked up at the mirror and realized she was still wearing her armor. “Ugg I need to make something to hold me in” ‘that’s what I will do tomorrow’ she thought before looking back at the low desk and the papers lying on it.

Lilith went to the master study and turned in her two drawings. They were complete with the weight of the steel needed and all the lengths for the wood and leather straps. Costs on the other hand were estimated. She put down the cost of the spears as 1.5 times the cost of the normal spears. And put down the shield cost as being 1.2 times the cost of a normal shield. Sir Tanel said that he didn’t have time to go over it yet but they could discuss it some time before mid day tomorrow.

“So Tany are you coming to dinner? Wendel and Celeste should be here soon.” Lilith used Sharl’s nickname for him since it was just the two of them in the room together.

“Oh come on don’t call me that too. The big lug can get away with it but you.. you know better.”

“I don’t know Tany if you come to dinner with us I might just get my better judgment back.”

“Two days in Faerun and you are already trying to blackmail a head of state. This world has corrupted you woman.” Sir Tanel wagged a finger at her jokingly.

“Yes just look at the state I am in.” Lilith motioned to her tail as if to ridicule its very existence.

“Fine. Fine. I have been at this all day anyways.” Sir Tanel stacked all the ledgers on his desk in a pile and then put them into a safe in the wall. He then motioned to Lilith to lead the way and they both walked out to the banquet hall finding Celeste and Wendel standing at the serving table already.

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