by Shanon Chong
“What are you getting?” Rachel asked, taking a closer look at the list of foods written in cursive before her. “They have full-course meals here…” She exhaled in disbelief.
“It’s affordable luxury dining. That’s what it’s called by reviewers.” Alicia started writing her own unique string of numbers on the paper.
“Either the critics are too soft or this place is amazing,” Norah said. “Probably should ask Mr Rhimmage about it.”
“On another note. Does anyone want something from around the Church?” I offered as I looked through the food options.
“Hey, Theo, I know you want dirt on the Church,” Vin whispered, leaning over the table as I wrote a string of numbers on the order sheet like the others. “There’s a place near there. They call themselves Freelancers. Just say Vin sent you to learn a little...”
“Thanks?” I said, confused, as I looked into his gleaming brownish-yellow eyes.
“What did you order?” he asked, changing tact suddenly. Taking a seat, he apologised to those around him.
“The sandwich. It looks interesting.”
Minutes later, a large platter of food came through the door.
“Guys, food’s here!” Juno shouted, grabbing it. “Here’s your sandwich, Theo. Uh, that’s yours, Vin…the special morning toast?”
“That is mine, indeed,” Vin declared, snatching it from her delicate hands. “Many thanks.”
“Who’s paying?” I whispered to Rachel. “You know I don’t have money.”
“I’ll pay for you. Calm down… We’re going to the Church together, anyway. We’ll work together to uncover whatever is hidden within the city.”
“Cool,” I said, wolfing down the sandwich.
When I was finished, I stood up and placed my plate and cutlery neatly together. “I’ll be going now. Thank you for inviting me.” I headed to the door.
“Wait, Theo, I’m coming!” Rachel said, chasing after me. “Sorry,” she called back to the others. “We’re going to have a look around the city together.” She tossed a small handful of coins at the table, “Thank you!” she called back as Juno counted-up the mixture of gold and silver coins.
“All good,” Juno said, laughing and winking at the others as we left.
Chapter 14: The Corrupted Church
“Where to, Theo?” Rachel stumbled after me onto the street outside the restaurant.
“Well, I’ll be honest… I’m not too sure,” I replied. “I mean, if you know where the Church is, we can go there for a start.”
“That’s a very long walk… You didn’t think this out, did you?” Rachel sighed as she looked down the street and began walking.
“I didn’t think it would be that far,” I murmured quietly, avoiding Rachel’s accusation.
Oblivious to my muttering, she looked around the area for a landmark to regain her sense of direction. I followed her mindlessly. With time, she eventually took a breath and smiled confidently. The streets remained simple to navigate for the most part. Despite this, she somehow made us take unnecessary turns which managed to get rid of almost an hour as we barely reached the open plaza where the Church was situated before noon.
We stood at the edge of the plaza’s entrance. A sign on the archway we had entered through read, “Eastern Market District.” Tarps covered the stalls at the entrance of the bustling marketplace, and many families walked through the area, with little care for the congestion. The tightly packed stalls gave little opportunity to stop and take a breather.
Rachel pointed at a map next to a public restroom, one of the few rest areas in the entire market. I stood by her as we observed the cluttered artist’s rendition of the marketplace. Four large pathways led to the centrepiece of the Eastern District, the Church. Being the place of worship for one of the only religions within the Arcanan territory, it received little scrutiny. The Church of Nine Tails worshipped a wolf deity; of course, many mages didn’t think anything of the religion and kept their distance from any of its elders or people of authority.
“Ready?” Rachel prompted, tapping me on the shoulder as a gap opened in the sea of people.
“Yeah, let’s move.”
“What did Vin tell you?” she asked as we shuffled around the marketplace, hoping to find one of the central plaza entrances.
She grabbed my sleeve, pulling me out of the fray and bringing me into a garden of unprecedented proportions. The Church stood around us in all of its glory, casting a large shadow over one side of the shrubbery. Several large fountains were scattered around, and flowers and other vegetation surrounded them, growing carefully at the edges of the pearl material of the water features.
Several small boutiques and exclusive stores remained within the seemingly holy central area of the marketplace. The distinct separation between the two sections surprised me; there was barely anyone within the courtyard that surrounded the Church itself. I reminded myself that within the multi-storey monstrosity of the Church, many of the worshippers had probably already entered.
I looked around the Church before finally feeling an urge and temptation to set foot within the Church’s territory.
“Rachel?”
“Yeah?” she replied, admiring the size of the building.
“Want to go in?”
“Of course!” she declared. “Why wouldn’t I want to go in?”
“Then follow me closely,” I said cautiously as I walked through the large archway that led to the building’s first floor. “Holy—”
“Holy Mistress Kuho,” a white-garbed man interrupted. His friendly face and religious attire helped me identify him easily. “I haven’t seen you before… How may I help you?” he asked, tilting forward and slightly rearranging his thin, rectangular-framed glasses. The lenses didn’t hide his snake-like eyes, and the purple pupils within the sockets stared me down without any hesitation. “Is it your first time here?”
“Yes. How should I address you?” Rachel asked with little hesitation. She held her breath as the white-garbed man seemed to decide that we weren’t any threat.
“You could call me a single strand of fur off the great goddess’s tail,” he preached, standing tall. “My sins are forgiven. My name is Meffuris. I am an elder of the Church.”
“I am Gabriel. I come from the far-north village of Nyori,” Rachel improvised, telling several lies at once. “And beside me is my brother, Kabe.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, taking a bow and placing one knee to the ground in a false show of respect.
“Well, Gabriel and Kabe, how auspicious of you to appear today,” Meffuris stated enigmatically. “I was going to explore the western suburbs to find a loyal believer. However, with your appearance, I have an urge to show you around the holy Church of our goddess.”
Rachel shifted uncomfortably in her overcoat, “Well, Elder Meffuris, Th— Kabe and I came from the far north to receive a blessing for our sickly mother.” Rachel corrected herself quickly and eyed the elder to confirm she hadn’t tripped any alarms.
“Well, Gabriel, from the north, I shall take an honour upon myself and show you the wonders of the holy Church. I assume you and your parents are firm believers in the goddess?”
Our slight nods brought a smile to his face, and he slung his arms around our shoulders. “Shall we begin with this floor, then?”
Rachel bit her lip, feeling the awkwardness of the situation. She took a breath. “Yes, please, Elder Meffuris.” She faked excitement convincingly, and Meffuris chuckled as he tapped both of us on the head.
“I was joking when I said I had time to show you around. I’ll bring some holy water for your mother, and if you still wish to explore our holy grounds, then feel free to go anywhere you wish,” he stated hesitantly. He lifted his arms from our shoulders and began to walk toward the Church’s exit. “Sorry!” he shouted in a more casual tone as he disappeared into the crowd.
Grabbing Rachel by the shoulder, I leaned over to her ear and whispered carefully, “How did you ma
ke up all of that?”
“I figured it would be best if I made something up…” She sighed peacefully. “Let’s wait here for now.”
“See if he actually brings us some holy water?”
“Don’t worry. He will. It would threaten the religion if an elder forgot about a believer.”
“Would it really, though?” I asked skeptically, eyeing Rachel. Then I looked around the Church for a place to sit.
“Well, it probably wouldn’t, but you can always make something seem worse than it actually is.” Rachel chuckled as she watched a white-garbed elder approach us. “See, that’s probably his replacement.”
“How do you do. I was sent by Meffuris to deliver you this.” The elder bowed politely and handed us a sealed package. “I wish you luck on your journey.”
The elder disappeared up the spiral staircase that led the entire way up the pure white tower. The building was an architectural masterpiece, with curved walls leading to a tall, flat face to the north, where the entrance was situated.
“Should we leave?” Rachel prompted, tapping me on the shoulder. “We’re done here, right?” she asked after presenting the package before my eyes, “This is all we needed?”
“I want to explore a bit,” I replied hesitantly. “I want to make sure I’ve seen everything.”
“Fair enough. Up the stairs, then?” Rachel made her way to the stairwell and began climbing it to the second floor. I followed her, and as we made our way up, I looked at whatever caught my interest.
“A library…” I muttered. In the wide-open area, the bookshelves were arranged in a horseshoe according to the building’s shape. The centre had tables and chairs, and many of them were occupied by loyal believers of the Church. “You want to have a look around?”
“Not particularly. Want to look at the next floor?”
“I think we should leave after the next one. I’m not too sure about this place.”
“Yeah, I know what you’re feeling.”
We returned to the stairs, taking our time going up. Several fountains and boxes painted white greeted us when we reached the third floor. The fountains were nearly completely obscured by the humans lapping away at the liquid they released. Elders of the Church carried white boxes, which, on occasion, they poured into the fountain.
“Is that opium?”
“Didn’t your father already reveal their usage?” Rachel replied. “Well, it looks like they aren’t afraid of Arcana’s strongest man.”
“Let’s leave.” I took a breath, and then I headed down the stairs to the bottom floor. “We should probably speak to the at the freelancers Vin mentioned.”
“You know where they are?”
“Vin said they’re close to the Church.”
I exited the Church and made a beeline for the stores and restaurants that surrounded it. The small and excessively expensive stalls within the Church’s area were consumed by the shadow that the tall, looming building created.
“We can’t see much here,” Rachel commented, wiping her eyes as she looked around for a sign within the central precinct of the market. “I’m surprised the shadow actually blocks out this much light…”
“Maybe the Freelancers are one of those places where they don’t have a sign?” I suggested, already feeling a slight sense of defeat after circling the entire courtyard.
“Well, I’ve got an idea as to where it might be. Follow me,” Rachel instructed.
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll try your idea before we do anything.”
Rachel stared me down as I spoke, and her slight giggle gave me the idea that the place we were looking for was more obvious than I thought.
“Let’s go into this café here.” Rachel pointed at the café we had been loitering outside for minutes now. The sign read, “Arel Fencers.” “I think you’ll understand when you walk in.”
“Don’t tell me it was that obvious…” I sighed as I opened the door, only to be faced by a paved stairwell that led directly to a sign that read, in small gold print, “Freelancers.” I turned to Rachel, who held her stomach as if suppressing her laughter. “You’ve got to be kidding…”
“Well, I thought you were smarter than that…”
“How was I supposed to know ‘Arel Fencers’ meant ‘Freelancers’?”
“It’s an anagram. I mean, even you can arrange letters, right?”
I stifled my frustration. “Fine, your victory.” I sighed, annoyed at my lack of intuitiveness. “I’ll speak with the people here. You want to wait outside?” I offered, standing to the side of the confined stairway.
“I’ll wait outside. Be quick, okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll see what I can do.” I opened the second glass door that led to a simple office, noticing the sign that read, “Consultation,” I decided to go over and talk to the people who worked there.
“Hello! Over here!” a consultant shouted, gesturing for me to come over. “Who sent a kid here?” he muttered under his breath, seemingly ignorant of the fact that I could hear him.
“I’m here to get some information.”
“You got any money on you?” the consultant asked. Opening a book, he flipped through the pages before settling on one. “And what do you want information on?”
“I was sent by Vin,” I said quickly.
“Damn … What are you here for?” He reluctantly pocketed his notebook. “Be quick. Vin pays peanuts for things like this.”
“I need some dirt on the Church.”
“You want dirt? On the Church? I mean, other than the fact they’re brokering in sketchy substances, there isn’t much I can say.” The consultant sighed and handed me a piece of paper. “That’ll tell you all you could want to know about the drugtrade in Arcana.”
“Anything they can’t deny?”
“I mean, I’ve given you all the information you could need to lock them up for good.”
“Anything else?”
“No, now leave before an actual client comes.” The consultant stood up and left the booth.
Having already seen the substance use myself, I suddenly felt that the trip had lost value. Leaving the building, I looked to Rachel, who was fiddling with a serviette.
She smiled when she saw me. “Welcome back.”
“Yeah…”
“Anything?”
“Nothing much. You just folding that serviette?” I asked her, looking at the now-crumpled cloth.
“What are you going to do with the package we received?” she replied, ignoring my question. “I mean, the system, in some places, is quite corrupted.”
“Like the Church using bribes to ignore obvious dealings in drugs?” I said, my eyes widening slightly. “Well, I think I’ll hand this to Alista.”
“Alista?” Rachel inquired politely as we shuffled through the crowds and out of the marketplace.
“He works for the council. We’re heading to the council representative’s office.”
“Where’s that? I mean, we’re in the Eastern District right now.”
“Southern District, I think.”
“Yikes. Well, when do you want to get there? ’Cause, if we keep walking, we’re going to get there by late afternoon. Want to run?”
“Sure…if it gets us there quicker.”
“Of course it will,” Rachel said with a smirk. “Are you telling me that running is slower than walking?”
“Whatever… Save your breath for the journey,” I replied dismissively. “I don’t want to argue.”
“Sure…” Rachel turned her attention to the road and took off. I managed to keep pace with her for several seconds, but then I realised she definitely had a better physique than my own.
The residential and commercial establishments slowly left our view as an open area came into our vision. The large, circular area had several important establishments, and the buildings shared the same style of creation, polished granite brick that had been smoothed and polished. Minutes flew by as we continued to move swiftly, the repetitive use of gla
ss and obsidian created a contrast that made the block-like structures seem a little less emotionless.
“I’m assuming we’re here.” Rachel panned her head from left to right. “I mean, the council representative’s office is right there.” She pointed with her index finger. The circular front was composed of a mix of white granite blocks and a few obsidian bricks. I pulled on the polished stone handle connected to the glass door, and holding the door aside, I let Rachel pass before I followed.
“Thanks.” Rachel held the door open for me as I passed through after her.
“Likewise. Should we get started, then?”
“Sure, go ahead,” Rachel replied, throwing her arms up. “I have nothing to do with this.”
“Really?” I remarked sarcastically before approaching the office’s front counter. “Can I speak to Alista, please?”
The receptionist politely bowed. “Sure, he should be free. He’s in the room to your left.”
“Thank you.” I bowed and then turned to the left and made the short walk to Alista’s office. A sign on the door displayed Alista’s full name, “Alista Quaze.” Grasping the package from the Church in my right hand, I knocked with my left. “Hey, Alista. It’s Theo.”
“Why do you trust him, anyway?” Rachel asked. “I mean, you literally met him when you were getting interrogated, right?”
“How’d you know that?”
“I can roughly guess your relationship. I’m not stupid,” Rachel retorted quickly as the door opened. She eyed Alista, who stood with an awkward, lopsided smile on his face.
“Well, how can I help you?” he greeted us, holding open his office door. “Feel free to come in. I’ve got a little bit of free time right now.”
“I wanted to hand you a package that may contain opium in it.” I placed the white sealed box on his table.
“Er, from where?” he inquired as he opened the box carefully. “I mean, I can’t do much about it if it’s just off the street.”
I raised my eyebrow as I responded for added dramatic effect. “It’s from the Church.”
“From where?” Alista exclaimed incredulously. “How did you get it?”