Chapter 13

Irnoc

I sat in a meditative pose, trying to block out the street noise coming from outside the modest town home the order of Kinathe rented for these lessons. The final trainer sat before me, his voice a faint drone as he described the sensations I should seek to open the final door, the door to Celestia, the realm of Selena.

“Feel the vitality, the golden glow that invigorates life; the light that Nurtures all that lives.” Kenton said

I pictured the sixth door, it seemed rather similar to my first door, but there were subtle distinctions. The light and warmth from this door felt softer than that of Corana, less intense and not as fierce as Corana’s fire, but more pervasive. I reached with my mind to the door’s handle and turned it, swinging it wide open. The golden light poured through me as I reached through and…Called.

I opened my eyes and found a small glowing, almost transparent figure about the size of my hand. The golden glow nearly obscured it’s almost human like appearance, and small graceful feathered wings sprouted from its back. In its light, the small aches and pains I have always had, and never really thought of seemed to vanish. I felt revitalized and rested; better than I have felt for many years. With a pang of regret I released this beautiful creature back to its home, its glow fading to a pinprick of light before winking out altogether.

“You have done well, and managed to bridge the gap between our world and the worlds of every god. You have opened more doors than anyone else in living memory.” Kenton said, awe filling his voice. “Now that you have reached this point in your training, the Master wishes to meet with you again. He has fresh word on where your friend is, and believes you are now ready to aid in his project.”

“Where is Cat? Is she on her way back home?” I asked, tension filling every fiber of my being.

“It is for the Master to inform you about the results of the search. If you are ready, I will take you to him now.”

“What, no blindfolds? No mysterious winding routs meant to confuse the destination?” I asked suspicion clearly evident in my tone.

“No young sir, the master has decided that you will be shown the way to him directly…as a sign of trust and as an expression of hope that you will aid in his project and overthrow the terrible stranglehold the temples have over this land.” Kenton said, his posture showing respect and deference to his master, even though he wasn’t here.

“Then take me to him directly, if he has found cat then I want to know about it as soon as possible, if not sooner.” I told him.

“Very well” he replied with a slight bow and left the room. I saw through a crack in the shutter; a runner boy bolting off into the street, to notify the transport most likely.

After about a quarter of a candle mark a fancy carriage rolled in front of the house. It was either the same carriage as the one that brought me before the Master, or one just like it. Kenton walked back into the room and said “Our ride is here, we can go see the Master now” I nodded back and we both walked out of the room and got into the waiting carriage.

The Carriage moved slowly through the mildly crowded streets, so it took nearly a full candle mark to reach the heights. Beautiful palaces lined the cliff edge, each one with sprawling grounds, granite construction and accented with limestone, making each palace gleam brightly in the sunlight. The cost of importing the huge granite blocks all the way from the Kulta Mountains instead of using local sandstone was astounding. Everything about the heights oozed wealth and status, the rich green grass, the full hedges trimmed in fanciful shapes and the color explosion that was their gardens.

The carriage pulled up to one such palace, the guards at the gates didn’t even stop the carriage, just opened the gates as it approached and let it through. I expected the carriage to once again pull around to one of the side entrances that lead to the basement. I was wrong, the carriage continued down the main path towards the huge iron banded wooden double doors.

When the carriage pulled to a stop, a footman opened out door and placed a stepping on the ground then stepped aside with a bow. Kenton climbed out of the carriage, exuding dignity and didn’t acknowledge the presence of the footman. I climbed out after him, gave the footman a nod and followed Kenton up the wide stone steps.

The guards at the door opened it as we approached, showing a tall thin man in richly appointed robes and holding a long staff with a silver crescent moon adorning the top. When we stepped across the threshold he spoke in a deep resonating tone “The lord is expecting you, please follow me” he bowed at the waist, holding the staff perfectly straight. As he straightened up, he turned and began to walk down the great hall in a stately fashion.

We were guided through several halls, going deeper into the palace. The wealth shown outside paled in comparison to the riches held within. Silk tapestries, marble busts, gold ornaments, light globes held in place by gilded silver mounts and other treasures on casual display. My fingers itched to pocket a few trinkets, but I held it in check and followed the Seneschal and Kenton. Cat was more important than any mere trinket I could filch.

We were brought to what looked like a small waiting room. A pretty woman with long satiny black hair sat behind a small desk, she looked up from writing in a scroll as we entered. The seneschal nodded to her, and without a word she got up from her desk and knocked lightly once on the door behind and to the side of her desk before opening it and going inside, closing the door behind herself. A few moments later she emerged along with a tall nobleman, he had grey in his full beard, and shoulder length brown hair held back from his face by a silver moon crested gold band resting on his forehead. A broad smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes stretched across his face when his eyes fell upon me.

“Irnoc my boy, I am Lord Yazid. We have met once before; though you, no doubt, do not recognize me” Yazid’s voice was full of resonating and cultured tones. It sounded rather pompous to me, but I could hear a thread of steel hidden in there, reflecting the control and determination this man possessed.

I nodded in understanding. This was the master, the man who would help me get Cat back in return for help in some kind of special project. After a moment I remembered my courtesy lessons from a couple weeks ago and bowed from the waist, upper body parallel to the floor. I kept my mouth shut, remembering that I shouldn’t speak until he asked me a direct question. It wouldn’t do to antagonize this man, at least until he told me where Cat is.

With a soft chuckle, Yazid said “Enough of such formalities my boy, I get enough of such nearly constantly. I grow weary of all the pomp and ceremony. Come with me into my study and we can talk candidly.” I didn’t buy it for a moment, to my ears, his chuckle rang hollow and his eyes looked hungry, not amused. I had to play along though; I straightened from my bow, gave him a crooked smile and nodded.

Yazid’s eyes fell on Kenton, his tone serious again said “thankyou Master Kenton, you may refresh yourself if you wish before returning to your other duties.”

At the clear dismissal, Kenton gave half a bow and respectfully muttered “my lord” and turned and let me alone with Lord Yazid.

Yazid watched him leave for a moment then looked back at me, stretching his mouth into a smile again and gestured for me to follow as he turned and went back into his study. I followed, keeping a few steps behind him as I did. The study was filled with floor to ceiling shelves adorned with numerous books and scrolls, a few glow bulbs hung from his ceiling from a gold and silver chandelier decorated with the silver crescent moon motifs.

The Lord moved around his large; darkly stained solid wood desk, it seemed to be all carved of one piece rather than with boards with small silver crescents inlayed around the entire outer edge, and sat down in a stuffed armchair with a high winged back and gestured for me to take the sole other seat in the room, a much simpler wooden chair with plush cushions tied to it. I took the indicated seat and prepared myself to wait for this meeting to really begin.

After the Lord sat in his chair, he touched several of the silver crescents on his side of the table in a seemingly random order; I took special note just in case. When he touched the last crescent, I felt magic energies spring up around the entire room; it covered every wall, the ceiling and the floor. It felt like one of those wards I recently learned about, but I wasn’t sure which one exactly. “Now that we are secure, no one can overhear anything we say, we can begin. I believe you are aware of why I called this meeting, yes?” he looked at me intently and I knew he wanted me to answer this time.

“I was told you had new information on where Cat is and some mention of a special project was made to me.” I did my best to keep the intensity of my need to know where Cat was throttled, but I knew I wasn’t as successful as I would have liked. It didn’t matter much on reflection, they already knew how much I needed to find and save her. It’s why this Lord Yazid A.K.A. the Master was comfortable revealing his identity to me at this moment.

“Accurate and succinct, I approve” He said. “I will begin with, what I am sure, you wish to know most. Your friend Cat.” I nodded and he continued “One of my agents, the one sent to Lundness discovered some rather interesting news. Your friend arrived there by boat a few weeks ago. She was sold to one of the, shall we say, more specialized brothels, catering to more selective tastes.” He watched me carefully when he said this, probably reading all the little cues that betrayed the tension and anger I felt at this information.

“Fortunately for her, but rather unfortunate for the proprietor and some of his clients” he continued “that particular brothel burned to the ground, killing several people including the Jarl’s eldest son. A Hathan Priest took her into his custody and has kept her at his temple in Lundness since. My agent couldn’t get any more information from within the temple, but there are other channels I can use to gather more intelligence and possibly extract her safely.”

I visibly relaxed when I heard she was safe. She was still a prisoner in another temple on the other side of a mountain range, and at least a week’s travel away, but she was alive. I was about to ask when she could be extracted when Yazid spoke again, cutting me off before I could utter a sound.

“Now, I have already incurred great expense in this search for your friend. Following these other channels to learn more will cost magnitudes more in bribes and gifts, not even to say getting her out of the Temple of Hatha safely and brought back here.” He steepled his fingers in front of his mouth and gazed at me over them. “Now we are friends here, and friends help one another. You already indicated that you would be willing to help my little organization if I were to help you find your friend. I am more than willing to go to these great expenses for my friends, but I must know Irnoc, are you my friend? Will you aid me in my Project with the same zeal and passion that you seek out your Cat?”

There was no attempt at joviality anymore; his face was hard and serious. I had the feeling, despite my newly acquired abilities with each of the god’s realms, that if I gave the wrong answer here and now, I would not leave this room alive. I swallowed against my suddenly dry throat, looked him directly in the eye and said “of course, as you said, friends help one another. I would be rude and ungrateful to accept all your help in finding Cat and not helping you with this project of yours in return.” I was mildly surprised at how steady my voice was, confident even.

Yazid’s stern demeanor eased again, and he was once again projecting the kind and pleasant image of a man who just wants to help his friends. “I was hoping you would feel that way.” He looked over at a tall thick candle, marked with a line about every inch or so, the only open flame in the room. “You still have a few candle marks before you are due to return to the temple for the evening. Why don’t we go for a bit of a walk, and we can discuss my Project and the role I envision for you.”

After a slight hesitation I nodded “yes, a walk does sound quite pleasant my lord”.

“Please, when in private, just call me Yazid; all my friends do” he said, then he tapped another sequence of crescents on the desk and I felt the wards fall away to almost nothing. I could though feel a slight trace of the magic in the air, almost an echo of what was there only moments ago. Lord Yazid stood slowly from his chair and I followed suit. He strode over to one of his massive book cases and pressed on what looked like a knot in the natural grain pattern of the wood. There was a very slight vibration as the shelf slid backwards and then to the side, revealing a staircase spiraling down into the very bones of the heights.