Book 2 Chapter 53

Nerida had watched with ill hidden excitement as Tirr approached the shard. To her, nothing in her life had mattered as much as this moment… She couldn’t help but think that this was everything she had worked so hard for. The thought brought a tear to her eye, but she wiped it away quickly, knowing there was still much work to do.

She watched as he came into contact with its blue crystalline surface, and felt something within her call out in response as the color of the Shard surged. She gasped as it shattered, revealing the hidden coffin within. Though she had heard about their experience with the fire shard from Maria, it was another thing to see it for herself.

She found herself bowing her head as Tirr crept towards it. Saying a small prayer towards the Water Spirit who steps she was now following in… I will fulfill your will…. She found herself saying to the long past individual. The memories and feelings she had experienced form the shard seemed to boil at the front of her mind.

As she watched, Tirr reached the coffin and reached inside, only to be met with a flash of blue light. As it cleared it revealed Tirr’s form, collapsed against the stone sarcophagus. Maria ran forward to hold him and Nerida joined her. She felt a shock as she touched him, and could feel her shard quivering in joy at the contact.

Perhaps Maria had mistaken her excitement for fear… “It’s alright… If it's like last time he should wake up after a couple of days...”

Nerida took her hand away, allowing the other young woman to pick the young up and carry him. “Thank goodness… I look forward to the day when I can exchange this fake for God’s true Blessing…”

She guided Maria through the still genuflecting priests and priestesses, all of which were still amazed at the sight they had seen, and ignored Torvus’s sarcastic smile as she led the way out of the caverns. The journey from the isolated shore caves that had housed the Shard to the Water Temple was only a few hours and they soon arrived back at the Capital. As they passed through the streets, people noticing the crest of the Water Temple on their carriages stopped and cheered, crying out praises for the Priestess and their new God.

Nerida smiled and waved, glad that they had managed to thoroughly change public opinion so quickly. Having a clear place to lay blame for past grudges and grievances haad been even more beneficial than she had thought.

After arriving at the Water Temple, she guided Maria to the rooms she had prepared for them and watched her settle Tirr into his bed. Watching his sleeping face, she couldn’t hide her joy, chatting happily with Maria before finally saying goodbye to them both so she could attend to her work.

Outside her assistants immediately waved said work in her face… Requests form Agir to draft an official reply to the Confederation, ideas from the Water Temple for ways to continue to spread Tirr’s name… It would probably be overwhelming for any normal person, yet Nerida simply smiled, waving the work away for the moment as she continued walking through the temple, down through its many halls and to the dungeon hidden deep beneath it.

It was a place that had been seldom used in the past, and mostly for small transgressions among the priests. Now though the cells were full as Nerida’s followers kept careful watch over its prisoners. All of them either the tools of the confederation or people with connections to them.

She continued onwards, ignoring the bows her followers gave her as she continued to her destination on the last floor of the dungeon, where there was only one large cell…

Though it would usually be more than spacious enough for what was essentially a prison cell, the walls of the interior were covered in thick ice that pressed inward, making it cramped and claustrophobic. Even the floor was covered in a never-ending frost. And there in the center was the man she had come to see…

She smiled at the sight of him, at the fury and fear in his eyes. She glanced over his body, noticing the blue-tinged extremities. It was obvious he had lost his arms and legs to the cold hours ago… “I see you’ve been enjoying your stay High Priest, I’m glad…” Nerida said slowly as she approached the huddled figure. It shrank back from her with what little motion it could muster. A strange moaning spilled from his lips.

“What was that?” Nerida asked innocently, “I can’t quite understand you… Cat got your tongue perhaps?” Her smile darkened as she stepped forward again. The figure tried to yell at her and this time the tongue missing from its mouth was obvious as the jumbled moans tried to form words… “Or did I feed it to that starfish?” Nerida finished, tilting her head as she tried to remember.

The former High Priest tried to roar in anger, its body twisting as it tried to move its unresponsive arms and legs.

“Now don’t work yourself so hard… You never did manage to brave the shard, did you? Then such a prison wouldn’t even be a bother to you…” She grabbed him by the collar, leaning down to stare into his eyes, mad from pain and fear.

“Now I’m sure you’re wondering how it came to this... Truth be told I am fairly curious myself, I thought we had an understanding…” She brought his face close to her as she whispered, her eyes holding a dangerous glint.

“I gave you the contacts you needed to get in touch with the confederation and gladly passed on the information you needed for the attack on the Palace… The perfect plan … God would save the prince and stop the war, My dearest friend, bereaved by the loss of his wife would turn to spend more time with his son, relying on me to take charge of matters on the royal side as well as the temple. And all the blame could solely fall onto some of your many lackeys, leaving you weaker but still with power.”

She snorted, “In the end, we achieved the desired result... Yet here you are. Now my dear High Priest, why do you think that is? Is it because you went behind my back to try and help the confederation assassinate God as well? Or the fact you continued to help the confederation, ignoring my instructions and almost ruining our God’s attempt to end the war? Or… “ She asked as she squeezed his cheeks with one hand. “Is it just that I don’t like you?”

She suddenly giggled as she released him, watching as he tried to scramble away from her. “Well what’s done is done, No sense in trying to change the past now…” She raised a hand, ice gathering around her. The High Priest cried, screaming as best he could.

Nerida grabbed one of the icicles, holding it like a dagger as she approached him once more. Ice grew around him, holding him down as she came close. She pressed it against his chest as he screamed leaning n to whisper in his ear... “Well, either way, you probably would have had to die. It would be a problem if God was to learn of something he didn’t need to know…”

There was once last gargled scream as she pressed the icicle into his chest. Holding it there until his struggles stopped. She sighed, turning and heading back towards the rest of the dungeon. Her followers greeted her as she exited, “Get rid of him…” They bowed, moving to follow her command.

Nerida let out another sigh, thinking of how much work there was to do, but quickly shook herself, putting a hand on the shard at her chest. “We will not fail God this time…” She promised the Water Spirit as she headed back up into the temple…