Missteps V.2

Chapter 25 – Memories

"Well, that puts a dampener on that plan." Carric chuckled as the three of them stared at the notice pinned to the locked outer gates of the entertainer's guild.

Elaine read the notice aloud. "'Non-guild members are currently not welcome on the premises due to recent incidents. Exceptions may be made for members of the town guard.'" She reached up and scratched her head. "What do you think happened?"

Maron pulled his cloak up over the lower half of his face. "Judging by the smell, nothing good." A pungent odor wafted out from the other side of the door. They could all hear the flurry of activity on the other side as muffled yells, shrieks of surprise, and suspicious booms resounded through the large gates.

"I don't think we're going to get to talk with Kerri today." Carric remarked as the trio headed off down the street.

Maron sighed. "Looks that way. What did the two of you have planned? Mind if I tag along? I don't feel like playing 'The Prince' today."

Carric shrugged. "We just planned on doing some shopping. Elaine had mentioned that she needed to get you a gift."

"Really?" Maron turned to Elaine. "Why?"

"Not for you specifically, for the delegation." Elaine petted Shomma, who had found herself around Elaine's neck. "Father Togsomir suggested it. I'm attending the welcome party as a representative of the church."

Maron chuckled. "They're sending a Lirathan cleric of Vowil as the rep to a party for Lirathan royalty? And I thought my brother was the only playing politics."

Elaine's hand paused. "What do you mean, 'playing politics'?"

Maron stopped. "Come on Elaine, you can't be that dense. This Father Togosmir could have sent any representative from Marblebrooke, but he just happened to choose the only one around from Liratha?" He tilted his head as he gave Elaine a knowing look.

Her eyes narrowed. "Circumstances just happened to mean that I was the only one available."

Maron waved the comment off as they started to walk again. "It doesn't really matter that much, the invitation was just another ploy of my brother's to try to re-establish good standing with the church. It's like the temple you guys were gifted last year."

"Even if it is a ploy, at least its benefitting the church." Elaine growled as she walked faster to keep in step with the prince. "So, what kind of gift would the delegation enjoy? Something neutral like a shiny piece of artwork, or perhaps a new sword?"

Maron shrugged. "Surprise me." He grinned as Elaine rolled her eyes. "So, an adventuring group. You never really seemed the type."

"What kind of type did I seem?" Elaine reached up and scratched Shomma under the chin.

He laughed. "Not really sure, Kerri always made it sound like you never wanted to leave the Temple."

The cleric grimaced. "You wouldn't want to leave either if just walking down the street seemed to be an excuse for those loyal to the Royal Family to accost me. If I tried to shop on the wrong side of town, I risked being cheated on prices. Sometimes the shop just refused to sell to me."

Maron's mouth dropped. "Really? It's always seemed like the church had supporters everywhere."

Elaine nodded "We do, but in the capital they're more secretive. You have to remember, it wasn't too long ago that it was a literal crime to be an open follower. There are many even now who are afraid to come forward and help. Believe or not, there are some people who don't want to risk going to jail or the work houses for helping me buy bread. Especially not with all the food shortages."

"Trust me Elaine, the guards of Liratha have more to worry about then a follower or some cleric getting in a tussle." Maron pursed his lips into a straight line. Uncomfortable silence lingered in the air.

It occurred to Elaine that this was already more time she had ever spent with Maron without Kerri around. The first time Elaine had met the Prince, outside of him being an honored guest at some event, was at a party.

That night, the Lirathan entertainer's guild held a huge party. On the outside it was to celebrate the success of a new show. The guild had rented out the full town square, and spent months getting the permits to shoot fireworks off. The whole thing was a very large and noisy affair. It was also a ruse.

In actuality the guild was steering attention away from their guild house. Members of the Vowilian clergy were to meet in secret. Elaine was still an acolyte back then, and her job was to mingle with the party goers and keep an eye on the guards. The entertainer's guild was a large supporter of the church and frequently helped to smuggle members of the clergy around the city.

By this point, Kerri and Elaine had known each other for a few months. Since they were similar in age the two of them were paired up a lot. Kerri would provide the distraction, as Elaine passed messages to followers, made deliveries, or pick-ups. More than once they'd had to make a mad dash through town together to lose the guards.

The night of the party, Kerri had brought a date. This in itself wasn't unusual, Kerri had a lot of dates. This date kept his face covered the whole time, and when she introduced him, she only referred to him as 'her date'. All Kerri had told Elaine up to then about this latest fling, was that he worked with the thieves' guild. Elaine figured that the less she knew about him the better.

The three of them had fun that night. The food was good, the music amazing, and the secret meeting had come and gone with no issues. When it was time for the fireworks, they all climbed onto the roof of the guild house. They weren't the only ones with the same idea, but Kerri steered them close to the chimney, shielding their group from view.

That's when 'her date' took off his scarf and hood, revealing his face. At first Elaine hadn't noticed, the fireworks had started and she'd been entranced by the show. It was when she looked over to make a comment to Kerri that she recognized the prince. The two of them were cuddled together, each taking a turn to whisper in the other's ear as they carried on a conversation. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw her friend laughing and smiling.

Elaine didn't say anything that night, or the next day, or over the next few months. She figured that like all of Kerri's dates, this would only last for a few weeks. But it didn't. Months went by, and the two of them started to see less and less of each other as Kerri spent more time by Maron's side. By the time Elaine received Maron's note, she hadn't seen or spoken to Kerri in almost two months. The last time the two of them had talked, they'd argued over the relationship. Elaine was scared that her friend was falling in too deep. The more the two of them had argued, the more insistent Kerri was that Elaine didn't have the full story, a story that she couldn't tell. When Kerri had finally stalked away, a lot of bad feelings had been left behind. They'd made up a lot on the boat ride to Marblebrooke, but Kerri still refused to talk about Maron with Elaine.

While still in tense silence, Carric wordlessly steered the group into a general store. For the next couple of hours the three of them were able to fill the air with discussions of supplies (tents being the first thing) and possible gift ideas. Maron wasn't much help. From his questions it was obvious that he hadn't spent much time in the woods. Carric answered his questions distractedly as they perused the items, chuckling over the prince's obliviousness of what made a good trail ration and what didn't. All in all there wasn't much they had to buy, as the church had agreed to supply most of the more basic items.

In the shop next door, was a dressmaker.

"Hey Elaine, is the church going to provide a party dress?" Carric asked as the three of them watched a young redhead dress a mannequin in the window.

Elaine shrugged. "I don't know, it hasn't really come up."

"Do you own any party clothes?" Maron looked down at the Cleric.

She shook her head. "I have my vestments I can wear."

Maron groaned. He grabbed Elaine's hand and dragged her into the store. "This woman needs a dress." He announced to the middle-aged woman standing behind a small counter.

The woman rushed forward, unfurling a roll of measuring tape. "What kind of a dress?" The woman called the redhead over.

"One appropriate for a party at the palace in Silverbank." Maron explained as he grabbed Elaine's pack and crossbow, and passed them over to Carric. "It's tomorrow night, so I'm hoping you have something already made."

Carric settled himself on the floor against the wall, Shomma in his lap. Elaine sent him a pleading look as the seamstresses began measuring every inch of her, but all he did was grin and shake his head.

The older woman clicked her tongue. "You're in luck, we do have a few dresses. They were ordered by the entertainer's guild, but circumstances changed and the orders were cancelled." She turned to her assistant. "Cynthia, take this woman into the back and get her undressed. I'll collect the dresses and we'll see what we can do." She clicked her tongue again and rushed out of the room. The young girl pulled Elaine through the other door and into a good-sized dressing room where she was ushered onto a stool and disrobed.

The dressmaker, who introduced herself as Diana, rushed into the room with four dresses in her arms. As the two of them dressed and re-dressed Elaine, she was reminded of the last time she was dressed for a party. Difference was, she wasn't a guest at that one, but the Guest of Honor.

Back then, Elaine had been eighteen at the time, and still living in Osthom. It'd been two years since the orc attack that had killed her older sister. She still lived in her grandparents' home with three younger siblings with the grandparents that had raised all of them. She had no idea where her parents were, but every time that they had a child, they would send it to be raised by her mother's parents. All her grandparents ever said about the arrangement, was that it was for the best of the children.

There'd been a plan in place for Gennifer, Elaine's oldest sister, to travel to see their parents when she turned eighteen. She'd been so excited, and everyone had worked for months to save up the money for her trip. Two days before her departure date, the orcs had attacked.

Ever since that day, Elaine had pulled away from her family. Her brother Tristan blamed her for Gennifer's death, and Elaine couldn't blame him. She knew she wasn't responsible, but she was the reason Gennifer had died alone.

A couple of weeks after Elaine turned eighteen, her grandmother had presented her with a sack of gold, and papers. In the papers were multiple ship tickets, destination instructions, and a letter. It was up to Elaine to take the trip meant for Gennifer. By the time the sun had set in Osthom, Elaine was already on her way.

The journey took three weeks. Wherever she was going, it wasn't a straight shot. She was shuffled between multiple ships, all captained by friends of her grandparents. Finally she was thrown into a dingy early one afternoon and told to paddle due east towards an island that was still hazy on the horizon. As the dingy was lowered into the water, Elaine pleaded with them to explain more on why she was suddenly being thrown out on her own.

As she got closer, the reason became clear. The water under her boat was crystal clear, and below her she could see large spires of stone that jutted out from the bottom of the ocean floor. None of the spires seemed to breach the surface of the water. Shipwrecks were scattered all around the area, some still impaled on the spires that had brought them down. Even the bottom of her dingy scrapped some of the spires that were the closest to the surface. The most dangerous part, none of the spires breached the surface.

As she got closer to the island, she encountered a large cliff-face that blocked any other features of the island from few. Later she learned that it was actually the outside of a once active volcano. Ahead of her, a handful of small fishing boats were scatted around, its passengers casting out nets and reeling in catches of fish.

A man in the closet boat was the first to notice her. She heard him yell out something to his companions, before he jumped in the water and swam out to meet her. "Are you lost?" Were the first words out of the man's mouth once he'd breached the surface next to her dingy.

"I don't think so." Elaine explained how she'd ended up there while the man climbed aboard. She dug out the letter to her parents from her pack, showing him the names written on the front of the envelope. The man read the names, and his eyes narrowed.

"I will take you to them." He took the paddles from her, and steered the small vessel closer to the island. The other fisherman formed a kind of guard around the dingy, as they surrounded the craft and led the way around the cliff-face. After an hour they came upon a large opening in the side, large enough for a large sea vessel to pass through easily. Torches were lit as the contingent went inside.

On the walls were messages of warning and despair scrawled in many different languages. As if to prove the messages true, skeletons dangled in nets hung from the ceiling, or shackled against the wall like an art project. Elaine's hand shook as she held a torch, and fear took hold of her mind. No one around Elaine had a friendly smile to offer. They all seemed to be suspicious and skeptical of her, or at least that's what she thought. Now she could admit that the intermittent scowls and glares that were sent her way might have been misleading. After ten minutes or so, they passed through another opening, and came out in the interior of the dormant volcano. Inside, a large tropical forest had formed, and within that forest stood a civilization.

Elaine forgot about the pit in the bottom of her stomach as she stared open-mouthed at the structures around her. Because they were inside a caldera, the cliffs lorded over the interior several hundreds of miles into the air. In the center was a large central landmass with carefully maintained fields and large trees. The edge of the island was shored up with stone walls. In the water around it, raised buildings had been constructed that were connected by bridges or boats. To the south, there was stone bridge that led from the island's edge straight to the cliff wall.

The group pulled their boats into a small marina and disembarked. The man who'd taken control of Elaine's dingy grabbed her bags and helped her out. A small crowd of people had begun to gather, gawking at the newcomer. She had the distinct impression that they didn't get many visitors here. She was also aware of how warm it was inside the cone.

Many of the people surrounding her were dressed in thin, vibrantly colored wrapped dresses and skirts, or loose fitting and flowing pants. On their feet were sandals, usually with laces that wound up their calves. Around her they all seemed to be human, but she saw pointed ears on some of them. Everyone, even some of the children, were tattooed and dark skinned.

She was led towards the cliff wall, where stairs had been carved into the bowels. She was shocked to discover a whole network of staircases. Within the rock, large dwellings with pseudo-neighborhoods had been carved. In fact, as the sun sank beneath the cliff, lights began to flicker out of the carved windows. It was as if a thousand lightning bugs glittered around the circumference of the wall.

She was led through the cliff to another stone walkway that led to the far side of the island. There, a large white stone building that strongly reminded Elaine of the government houses back home had been erected. This was easily the largest building on the island, and as they got closer she could see brightly colored stones imbedded into the walls to form patterns.

The large double doors were already ajar and she was handed over to a stern, bald man with two swords strapped to his waist. He was shirtless, but his chest was so heavily tattooed that it looked like he was wearing one. The doors were shut behind them with a heavy thud. Elaine was led deeper into the building, her bags in her hands. Torches lined the halls, and the fire glinted off the large stained glass windows they passed. The walls that didn't have windows were brightly painted in prints of different plants and animals.

She was led her into a courtyard full of vibrant flowers and trees with a large fountain in the middle. Sitting on the lip of the fountain was a dark-haired girl, her hair closely braided and pulled into a ponytail. She wore the same style of clothing as the other islanders, only her clothes were trimmed in gold.

"You may leave us Marcus." A deep voice said from Elaine's left. Looking over, she saw a man and a woman in lounge chairs. The man had his hair closely shaved to his scalp, and wore a golden coronet around his head. The woman next to him was wearing a silver coronet, though it was almost lost in her dark blown out hair. In the torchlight, Elaine could have sworn she was seeing her grandmother. They were also dressed in gold-trimmed clothing.

"I hope your journey wasn't too awful." The woman said as she stood up and approached Elaine.

"No, just long. Who are you?" Even as the words left Elaine's mouth, she knew. These people were her family, and they were island royalty.

Elaine stayed on the island for three months. Her parents threw her a week-long celebration to welcome her to the island, and her stay turned out to be a sorely needed vacation. She learned how a storm had blown her mother's ship into the spire field. She along with a few others had managed to swim to the island, where they'd been welcomed. The islanders were used to taking in strays, and more often than not those strays stayed. However, the islanders had to be careful. Their resources weren't limitless, so to ensure that they wouldn't starve several measures had been put in place.

Dwellings were confined to the cliff walls so as to conserve farmland on the island, and capital punishment or exile were common punishments to ensure peace. Families were restricted to only one or two children, while excess children were either adopted out to childless couples, or sent away from the caldera. Euthanasia for long-standing withering diseases or disabilities was common.

Due to the scarcity of paper and parchment, family history and great events were carved upon the cliffs, and tattooed onto the skin of family members. It was not uncommon for several generations of family members to have the same tattoo inked upon them.

Not even the King and Queen of the island were exempt from these laws, hence the sending away of Elaine and her siblings. Queen Rowan tearfully told Elaine how hard it was every time, but she'd rather her children live away from her than to never have been born. She and King Tristan II cried for several days upon hearing of Gennifer's death.

Elaine bonded with her new sister, Alicia, the eldest taking it upon herself to introduce the island to Elaine. It was Alicia who showed her the first carvings ever etched into the cliffs, about the dangers of the water spires. She explained how their ancestors believed that the deity Adayang, the Worldshaper, had gifted them a new homeland after the destruction of their original. The named their new home Skone in honor of what'd they'd lost.

The hardest thing Elaine faced while on the island, was overcoming her own sense of modesty. She had to admit that it was too warm on the island to stay as covered as she liked. Alicia provided her with a sheer shawl that at least offered the illusion of cover.

Back in the present day, the group left the dressmaker's after a couple of hours.

Elaine rushed after Maron, clutching her new dress that was wrapped in brown paper, to her chest. "Please, let me pay you back for this."

"Elaine, it is a gift from the Royal Family of Liratha, to a Cleric of Vowil." Maron grinned. "Why can't you just accept it?"

Elaine narrowed her eyes. "The last time you gave a dress to someone, they ended up exiled."

He rolled his eyes and held out a hands towards her. "Thank you for letting me escape for a while, but I should be heading back."

She hesitated for a moment before she shook his hand. "Thank you for the dress."

"You're welcome." He turned and offered the hand to Carric. "It was nice to meet you."

"You too," Carric shook the hand.

"I look forward to seeing you both in Silverbank." Maron gave a small bow, then turned and headed up the street.

"I think the dress looks nice." Carric commented as him and Elaine turned down a side street and headed back towards the church. "He's a lot nicer than in the stories."

"That's just his charm oozing off." Elaine tucked the package under her arm.

The ranger laughed. "No, I think you're just biased."

She scoffed. That night Elaine packed her pack. The caravan to Silverbank was leaving early the next morning. Even Carric had agreed to spend the night in the church so as not to be late.

Elaine picked up a small black, satin bag from the bed. As she traced the tri-mountain symbol embroidered on it, her mind drifted back to her time on the island. The bag had been a final gift from Alicia, thrust into her hands at the last moment before she'd left the caldera.

She reached inside and pulled out a clear diamond carved into a perfect rectangle. Imprinted upon it were blue colored runes. It was big enough to fit comfortably in her hand, and it was cold to the touch.

Along with the stone was a hastily scrawled note from Alicia, explaining that this key had been in their family since before they'd settled on the island. She felt that it wasn't safe in the calder anymore, and she entrusted Elaine to keep it safe. At the first opportunity, Elaine had written to Alicia, asking her more about the diamond key, but Alicia only wrote back that it was better for no one to know the key had left the island, or that it existed.

The only person who knew about the diamond key besides the two of them, was Kerri. Kerri only knew about it because she'd come across it while snooping through Elaine's belongings early on in Liratha. Elaine had sworn her to secrecy, and as far as she knew Kerri had kept her word.

She stowed the key back in its velvet bag and tucked the whole thing inside with her new dress.

Before she climbed into bed, she lit a candle and sent a prayer to Vowil to watch over the soul of the boy that had died that day. The thought crossed her mind that it was unfair for a young life such as his to end so early. Her conversation with Lia back in the settlement, in which Lia spoke of spells that could revive the dead came to the forefront of her mind.

It wasn't the first time those types spells had come up. It was impossible to follow a religion that was based in fighting the undead without those questions arising. If there was indeed magic out there that could breathe real life back into those who had died needlessly, why couldn't they use it?

Priest Antodin always answered with a simple question: what gave them the right? Unlike the gods, those in the mortal realms don't have the ability to look into a person's soul or see into the future. For all they know, the person could have a greater mission waiting for them in the afterlife, or they could have a deserved punishment waiting. Bringing the person back to life, might upset the course of someone else's destiny, or change events enough to hinder their own path.

Antodin had stressed to all of her pupils and followers that death was a natural consequence of living. It was not something to live in fear of, but nor was it something to yearn for. They are to spend their time under Vowil's light performing good deeds and actions. To work on creating a world centered on freedom and justice, a world in which the followers of evil could no longer thrive.

As she finished her prayer, she looked down at her holy symbol; a simple sun charm on a simple chain. Back home, she used to hear some of the acolytes lament at how small and unassuming their symbols were. How they yearned for the day the old temples could be reclaimed, and they could wear the elaborate chokers and medallions of old.

Elaine didn't want that. She hadn't joined the church so that she could flash fancy jewelry in others faces. She'd joined because she believed in their mission, and was impressed by the steadfast resolve of the clergy even under the worst of circumstances. More than that, every time she used her magic she could feel the warmth of her goddess within her. Her magic was a gift from her deity, and it signified a trust the goddess had in her to do right with her gift. Elaine was determined to make her goddess proud.