CHAPTER 10
Maria felt herself walking through a warm forest as light filtered through the tall trees. Her hand held a small basket that she occasionally filled with small herbs from the forest’s floor. As she walked there was a rustle from behind her, and she turned just in time to see a young boy rush out of the nearby brush followed by a small wolf cub.
He looked frightened for a moment as he saw her, taking a step back warily. He was wearing a rough cloth that he had fashioned to cover himself. “Are you alright?” She heard herself ask, obviously concerned. She took a few small steps forward holding out a hand towards the young boy.
He backed away, looking like he would run away at any moment. “It’s okay…” She said. “I won’t hurt you” Maria noticed the boy slowly start to relax as she slowly approached again. “Do you have a name?”
The boy looked down, thinking for a moment before looking up with a smile, “Tirr!”
Maria gasped and was once again standing in the little temple. Her granny Nora was nearby helping Tirr who seemed to be sagging as he leaned on the older woman. Maria started towards him, but he waved her off, saying he just needed to rest for a moment. Nora helped him to sit down and handed him a cup of tea which he drank gratefully.
Maria noticed a strange glow from below and looked down just in time to see a pair of wings on the back of her hand. They were surrounded by a series of strange symbols that reminded her of the plaque from the grove. They slowly faded away as she watched them.
“That’s your sigil.” Tirr said having caught his breath. “How do you feel?”
Maria took a moment to examine herself. “Great!” She said as she stretched. She had been a bit sore after her ride on the Guardian and the villages escape during the fight. But the pain was all gone, even more she felt filled with energy.
“I saw something strange though, you were in a forest talking to someone” Maria said trying to remember what she had seen. “Does that usually happen?”
Tirr frowned, “No… well maybe… I don’t know, there are too many things I don’t remember, and it feels like there’s stuff I don’t know that I can’t remember.”
Seeing his expression darken Maria quickly changed the subject. “Well, all I have to do is spread this blessing for a while to help you build back up right?” She said happily, “I’ll help you spread it untill we find someone better to take over.
Tirr looked at her confused, “You’re my Apostle, no one else can take over.”
“What?” Maria said slowly, as she realized what that meant. “I have to oversee the whole life branch forever? I thought I was just going to help you at first. I can’t be in charge of something like this, I’m only 18. Isn’t that too important for someone like me?” Maria heard her grandmother chuckling at her shock.
“The only way to pass on the original blessing is if the original Apostle dies.” Tirr said plainly. “It’s a great honor to be my Apostle you know.” He looked a little annoyed at her.
Maria was still processing as Tirr moved on. “Anyways it’s time to pick your Devotees.”
“I’ll be one of course” said Nora.
“I’d like to be one..." A small voice said from the back room. Lina crept out slowly, “I’m sorry for eavesdropping, but I want to be able to help people like you did my dad.” She said, looking at Tirr and then around at Nora and Maria.
“Good! Now you should be able to bless one more, these two are to young and too old to help you fight right now so it’s best to get someone who can support you in a fight right now until you’ve trained a bit.” Tirr said hand rubbing his chin. “Do you know anyone that would work?”
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There was a knock on the door and Nora went to answer it as Tirr tried to get Maria to help name someone. She came back with Doron. He appeared a bit nervous as he saw Tirr discussing things with Maria. “The wounded should be brought up soon as you requested” He told Nora as they entered.
Tirr noticed him immediately gave him a look up and down. He got up and circled around Doron before turning to Maria with a smile, “He’ll do!”
Doron was confused but spoke up to the young boy, “Uh… God, or Tirr, whatever you prefer. The Village Head was hoping to meet with you tonight to talk about the attack.
“Whats there to talk about?” Asked Tirr, “I got rid of the scum that insulted me. I don’t have time to talk about stupid things, I need to start rebuilding my empire.”
Doron sighed, “Well, he’s worried that by killing the Kingdoms knights, The Kingdom might think we are rebelling and send a punitive force.”
“Those men had no intention of letting us go in peace.” Nora cut in frustrated.
“I know” Doron said holding up a hand. “But it doesn’t change the way the Kingdom might see it. The village head wants to discuss it with Tirr and the other elders on what to do.”
“It’s not a rebellion because they never had a right to it in the first place. If they want a fight, then we’ll simply crush them!” Tirr said fiercely. He pointed at the scar on Doron’s bad leg. “This leg wasn’t set properly.”
Doron scratched his head as he looked at the boy. “Well yes, it happened on a battlefield and there was no time to properly take care of it. By the time I got to a doctor it had already set wrong and they worried I might lose it for good if they tried to reset it.”
Tirr nodded pleased, “Good I’ll fix your leg and you’ll become my follower under Maria.”
Doron stared blankly at him for a moment, “You can fix it?”
Tirr looked proud, “Of course, if you join my new Apostle, you have combat experience so you should be decently strong with the blessing, plus you can teach her how to fight!”
Doron looked over at Maria for a moment before gritting his teeth. He had always hated the way his leg held him back. And though he wasn’t sure he trusted the strange boy in front of him, the offer was too tempting to pass up. “Okay, if you can heal my leg, I’ll help the priestess”
“Good, wait for a moment.” Tirr turned to Maria “I’ll help you pass on the blessing to these two before dealing with this.
Maria felt like things were moving to fast for her, “I don’t even know what to do.”
“It’s easy.” Tirr said as he called Nora forward. She walked up smiling happily as Tirr took her hands and put them in Maria’s. “I’ll help you feel the blessing at first and tell you what to do. The important part is to focus on what you want. Stating it aloud helps. There’s supposed to be a big ceremony but that can wait till later.” Tirr placed one hand at the small of Maria’s back. “Do you feel that?”
Maria nodded as she felt the now familiar warmth build under Tirr’s hand. “That’s your blessing, focus on it and move it towards your hands.” Maria closed her eyes as she focused on the warmth and tried to move it. It seemed to hesitate at first but slowly began to move up her body and down her arms.
“The blessing is meant to be used, it won’t fight you. It wants to do the things you want it to. Its just a matter of if you’re strong enough.” Tirr spoke slowly as he guided Maria. She opened her eyes and noticed her hand slowly starting to light up. Nora was looking up at her smiling “You look beautiful dear”
Faint light spilled from Maria’s hand as the sigil appeared once more. Nora standing face to face with her noticed her eyes had changed to a silvery white. She seemed lost in concentration as she held her grandmothers and focused on controlling the blessing.
“Now” said Tirr “focus on moving it out of you and into hers, think of passing it to her, of her keeping it and using it. Say something grand too”
“Like what” Maria whispered, trying not to lose focus.
“I don’t know, say something like, may you use the blessing to serve loyally”
Maria nodded and did just that, controlling the warm light to spill from her hand into Nora’s as she spoke. The light started to shine again but not as brightly as when Tirr did it. Soon the pair of wings appeared on Nora’s hand and Maria felt a wave of exhaustion.
Tirr helped hold her up as she caught her breath. And Nora stared at the sigil on her hand until it faded away. She stepped up and held Maria to her hugging her happily before letting go.
“Alright, you can pass it on to her just fine by yourself.” He said nodding to Lina as he grabbed Doron, who was still staring in amazement at Maria. “I’m going to fix his leg now. It shouldn’t take long, but he probably won’t be in a good enough state for the blessing right afterwards.”
Maria nodded as she watched Tirr head off towards her own room, hoping he wouldn’t make a mess, before turning to Lina who stood excitedly as she waited.