Chapter 17

“Thank you for coming to this emergency meeting of the Conclave” Matriarch Adelmira of Corana’s Temple said. She let her gaze slide around the chamber, meeting the eyes of each effigy formed from the element each leader presides over.

On her left sat the shimmering gold form of Johnathan, Patriarch of Selena; next to him sat the rippling form of Akane, the Matriarch of Quintar; next to her seemingly carved from the very stone of the chamber was Grymir, the Patriarch of Galan. Next to Grymir the whirling dust devil formed the shape of Eric, the Patriarch of Hatha; and to Adelmira’s immediate right at the circular table sat the darkness made solid form of Jade, the Matriarch of Loratha.

“yeah, yeah, enough peasantries. I’ve got a lot of work to be getting on with back in my temple. What is the big emergency you have?” Jade asked, before Adelmira could say another word.

“Yes, We all have much work to be done.” Akane agreed in her well enunciated but clipped speech.

The others nodded in agreement. Adelmira nodded to the others and got to the point “within the last few days, one of my more unusual acolytes managed to slip out of the temple and taken ship towards Lundness. While this would not normally be an issue to summon the full council in an emergency meeting…” here she paused as she took a deep breath before continuing “however, this boy is a rather unusual Acolyte. The results of his Assessment for affinity are rather odd. The report showed him to have a single affinity for fire as is common for my region, but during the assessment, there was a rather large surge of power in the assessment device.”

“how large a surge?” the gravely sound of Grymir’s voice could be heard.

“reports show that nearly six times the power coursed through the device than would be expected for a single affinity test result.”

Silence filled the room as each temple leader processed this information.

“Are you saying what we all think you are saying?” Eric asked through the soft moan of wind his avatar made.

Adelmira looked into his eyes and nodded “this boy Irnoc may have more Affinities than anyone born in the last three hundred years, and he is on his way to your city.”

* * *

“Lord Yazid, we have found where Irnoc has disappeared to.” Kadeem said as he entered the lords office.

“Ahh my friend, excellent. Where has that boy run off to?”

“it appears that he has taken ship to Lundness. The Dock master reported that he saw a boy matching Irnoc’s description seeking a ship to that port, claiming to be on temple business.” Kadeem answered.

Yazid sat in silence for a few moments as he pondered this. His eyes slowly hardened and in a grim tone he said “he has betrayed us, ran away to get that whore of a friend and flee. He knows too much to allow to roam free. He must be hunted down. capture him and the girl if possible, if not then eliminate them. We are not yet ready for the temples to know of our activities yet. We are still a few years away from being able to begin to bring them down.

“The Temples will be hunting for him as well.”

“Yes, no doubt they will. They must not be allowed to take him either. Send out the Prototype with the Controllers. But make sure they know, no witnesses or survivors aside from those two children” Yazid pronounced.

Irnoc

The port village Fjoll rested between two craggy cliffs of grey stone, the tail end of the Sydan mountain range. As the ship slowly approached the bay between the cliffs, the skies were patrolled by gold and tan griffons the size of horses mounted by brightly colored, uniformed soldiers.

“All right ye pickled swine” the captain roared at his crew, “get ready to be pulled into port, it won’t take more than half the day to get that mast replaced and other repairs made, so no shore leave ye greedy buggers.” The crew muttered at this, but nodded to the captain. The captain turned to the passengers and in a bit less gruff a tone and with far less cursing he said “if ye be wanten to step on dry land, ye may, but if ye are no aboard my ship by the time we are ready to leave, ye will be findin yer own way to Lundness. And no refunds” he nearly spat at the word refund. The passengers all gave their assent, some muttered, others nodded, but they all agreed to be back in time or risk being left behind.

Once the pilot boat with one of the port officers on board approached the ship, I went below decks to collect Craig. In my cabin, Craig sat waiting for my return and instructions; I looked at him and said “we are getting off this ship for a few candle marks, I’d like solid ground under my feet again and we defiantly need to get you some proper clothes, just a loincloth might work on a ship, but it won’t do later and will just draw more attention than we want.”

Craig tried to protest” s-sir is too generous, I don’t need such things. I’m just a cheap slave.”

“I won’t be having any of that. Once I’m able I will get that collar off of your neck, you have potential to have lots of power and be able to help me get my friend free. I don’t want a slave, but I could use another friend.” I looked him in the eye as I said this. “By the way Craig, how did you end up as a slavie?”

Craig’s eyes went wide at my words, swallowed and in a quiet tone; almost a whisper answered my last question. “m-my mum and da had too many mouths to feed. They couldn’t afford to feed all of us littles, and needed money for Dream. So instead of just kicking one of us out, they sold us to the Lashers and I was bought by the captain here for labor.”

Dream, it was a nasty drug. It would leave the users in a pleasant haze for hours and induce vivid dreams if you took enough. It was highly addictive and fairly cheap for those in the Warren and I’ve seen many people waste away as they forgot to feed themselves, and perform any act just to get another bottle. I could see the pain in Craig’s eyes as he relived his past. It was bad enough ending up on the streets when your parents die or are arrested for taxes, but to be sold off just so your parents can get another bottle of Dream, it’s just terrible. I felt for the boy.

“Well Cheer up Craig, we are getting you proper clothes and get you free soon. Come along and we will get the first part taken care of. “

He nodded and followed me up to the deck. I checked my coin pouch by touch once again, still had the last gold and the six silver marks. It shouldn’t cost more than a mark or two to get Craig dressed and shod.