Portals of Infinity: Book Three: Of Temples and Trials

by John Van Stry

  Everyone cheered; I could feel the fur on my tail standing straight out.

  “Everyone! I declare the rest of this day to be a holiday! Let us all celebrate! Come! To the square!” Lord Bryan called out.

  Everyone started to head off in through the gates and we just followed the crowd.

  “Well that was easy,” I said still a bit shocked.

  “Don’t get used to it, the others won’t be,” Narasamman warned me.

  “A hunch?” I asked curious.

  “Oh no, Feliogustus just told me,” and she laughed while I scowled.

  As we walked through the streets to the town square, I got a good look around at the town. A lot of the buildings had damage and the repairs looked rather makeshift, temporary, but they looked like they had been that way for some time.

  Lord Bryan noticed my looking at several of these repairs.

  “The wall comes first,” he said pointing to damage on the city wall, and from this side I could see there were a lot of repairs to it. “It’s the only thing that kept them from coming in here and taking all of us. The few times they did manage to breech it, we made them pay for entering the town, but sadly we were never able to make them pay heavily enough that they stopped coming.”

  He looked around and I could see for a moment an expression of pain and sadness cross his face and his ears sagged briefly before he smiled again. “But thanks to you, thanks to Queen Rachel’s army, thanks to Feliogustus; we will have a chance to rebuild and grow. Already people are starting to fix the things they never could afford to fix before,” and he pointed to a couple of buildings a bit farther from the wall, that I could see work being done on.

  “I had no idea that things were so bad,” I said taking it all in.

  “How could you? You had your own people to worry about. When my grandfather founded this town, he thought he could stand alone and do it all. I know my father felt that way, and even I felt that way too for a while. But when the slavers came, we realized that we were no more than a small town. No matter how much of a defense we put up, they just came back with more the next time.

  “It was only going to be a matter of time until they just enslaved or killed us all, really.”

  I nodded. I’d never felt bad for what I did to the Mulanders; oh I’d had a few regrets about some of what I’d unleashed at times. But seeing this, it was hard to have any sympathy at all anymore. They had thrived by destroying towns, people’s lives, yeah; it was hard to feel sorry for them.

  “But enough of the sad history,” he said as we came up to a table that someone had already placed a tapped keg on. “Let us celebrate the future!” and with that he grabbed a mug and filling it with ale he handed it to me. Filling a second one himself we tapped mugs, “To the future!” he called out and everyone cheered as we drank.

  The party was fun, no one got too drunk, well at least not that I saw, and everyone was happy and seemed to want to thank me. In some cases a few of the women dropped rather blatant hints about wanting to thank me rather personally, but Narasamman was there by my side the entire night, so my fears of letting myself be seduced were easily laid to rest. Narasamman really had no interest in sharing me with anyone at all, and I was suddenly rather happy with that situation.

  When things started to wind down for the evening, Lord Bryan offered Narasamman and myself a room in his house to stay in, and allowed the rest of our party to camp in the square until they could find something better, as the one small inn the town had didn’t have enough rooms for all of them.

  “To be completely honest Will,” Lord Bryan told me as he showed us to our room at his house, “you saved us. We had been discussing abandoning the city and moving farther north, but after you won the war, well the discussions turned to approaching your Queen about some sort of alliance. We realize now that we’re better off being part of the kingdom, so better to bow to the inevitable than to wait for it to catch up with us.”

  “Wise.” Narasamman said with a nod.

  “Well, we figured we’d also get better terms that way as well,” he laughed.

  “Which makes it wiser still,” she said smiling back at him. Then grabbing my arm she started to pull me into the room.

  “Good night Lord Bryan, and thank you for the room,” I said.

  “Good night to the both of you as well,” he said smiling back and closed the door.

  I looked around; I was in the bar with Fel, who was sitting across the table from me as usual when I had my dream world meetings with him.

  “So, what do you think?” Fel asked smiling.

  “Godslayer?” I grumbled, “Really Fel?”

  He laughed, “I didn’t pick it, they did. Last thing I want them doing is reminding all the other Gods and Goddesses about what you did.”

  I nodded, “Narasamman isn’t going easy on me either. She seems to think I’m her husband or something.”

  “Well the high priestess or priest of the religion isn’t allowed to get married. They’re supposed to focus all of their attention on me after all,” Fel said taking a drink of the beer on the table.

  “And because I’m the champion, I’m ‘safe’,” I said gaining a little understanding.

  “Well that and the fems really do drool over you Will,” Fel chuckled. “To be honest I’m surprised you took Stephanie’s advice to heart so much. Most champions are more than happy to accept all those female’s favors.”

  I shrugged, “I grew up in a traditional family, well traditional for where I was. Having more than one woman still makes me feel guilty at times, especially when I love them both so much.”

  Fel nodded.

  “So other than overseeing the building of these temples, why else am I here?”

  “Well I did want you to have a better understanding of just how they were built, but this really is a fairly standard task for a champion. There will be places in the future I’ll want to put a temple and the locals may not like the idea.”

  I thought about what had happened back outside of Riverhead and nodded.

  “Exactly,” Fel said reading my mind. “Though doing something like that isn’t really my style. It also isn’t very smart strategically.”

  “Oh? Why’s that?”

  “You build a place like that, you know it is going to be destroyed, the local God has to respond.”

  “But won’t that make your enemy weak someplace else?”

  “It can, however it makes you weak as well. There is a backlash when a temple is destroyed. How long it lasts, and how bad it is, all depends on the situation, but it isn’t something you really want to experience, especially not against an experienced Goddess like Aryanna.”

  I nodded. “Oh, how come you can’t talk to me? I see you can talk to Narasamman, even when she’s not in the temple. Also, Aryanna can, so why can’t you?”

  Fel smiled, “Rules. A God can’t talk directly to their champion, or normally anyone else’s. We can only talk to you in your dreams like this, or if you’re in a temple, where we have the ability to talk, mentally or physically.

  “As for Narasamman, she’s my high priestess and we can always talk directly to our high priest or priestess, as long as they haven’t lost faith.”

  “Well how come Aryanna can speak to me?”

  “Because she was speaking to you before you were a champion, so that gives her a bit of wiggle room in regards to the rules.”

  I thought about that and nodded.

  “Has she found a new champion yet?”

  Fel shook his head, “She’s not in a rush, she’s fine with her situation as it is right now.”

  I nodded again. “Well until next time,” I said and returned to my dreams.

  Four

  (Saladin – Kethel)

  The next day I went with Lord Bryan to meet the council to discuss the agreement. Rachel had provided me with several copies of the document and I handed them out when I got there.

  The council was rather large surprisingly; there were fo
urteen people on it. Lord Bryan introduced all of them to me, and told me what they did. Half of them were concerned with the maintaining of the Town’s wall, the inner defenses, and their small military force. The rest were leading townspeople, all of whom seemed to be involved with farming, baking, building, and one who was in charge of the Town’s wells. I realized quickly that everyone on the council was primarily concerned with preparing for sieges and defending the town. There wasn’t a single politician on it.

  “I vote we accept the agreement and move on to old business,” one of the older Councilors said as soon as we all got settled.

  “But we haven’t read it yet, Clem,” Lord Bryan said.

  “So? What’s the point? We’re going to accept it anyway, and I doubt he’s allowed to make any changes to it anyway.” He said pointing at me.

  They all looked at me and I shrugged. “Queen Rachel dictated the terms and I’m not one to argue with her.”

  “Isn’t she also yer wife?” Someone else called out.

  “When was the last time you won an argument with your wife?” I asked smiling, “I’d rather argue with mine even less!”

  They all got a laugh out of that.

  “Let’s just read it, and then vote, okay?” Lord Bryan asked looking around the room.

  They all looked back at him and then nodded and read the copies I had provided. As there were only five copies, it took a while for everyone to read through it.

  When everyone was done, Lord Bryan rapped on the table with knuckles.

  “Okay, any discussion?” He asked.

  “I think this is rather generous overall,” a woman at the far end of the table said. “I say we vote.”

  I watched as the others nodded and agreed.

  “All in favor?” Lord Bryan asked.

  The room filled with ‘Ayes’.

  “Against?”

  No one said anything.

  “Okay, I have the official copy here. I will sign and ask for all of you to put your names below mine to show that the entire council has agreed.”

  I watched as they did just that, and twenty minutes later, I had the document back in a document case and left them to go deal with the rest of the town’s business as I went in search of Narasamman and the rest of the group.

  It didn’t take me long to catch up with her, she was with two others, the head builders, and they were walking through town looking for a building site.

  “Not a lot of open space in town, is there?” I asked as I came up to them.

  “None really at all. They’ve really got a lot stuck in here close together.” Kevi, the head builder said.

  “Well they went though a lot of sieges, so you’d sort of expect every square foot to be used up.”

  “Well once the army establishes a garrison out here, a lot of these people will move back out to their farms, so that will open up more space.”

  “We don’t have the time for that,” Narasamman said. “Feliogustus wants this temple started immediately.” She turned towards me, “How are you doing with the treaty? They break for lunch already?”

  “Oh no, they signed it. I’m done.” I told her.

  “What?! Already?” She looked a little panicked.

  “Don’t worry; I’m not leaving until the temple gets started.”

  She gave a big sigh, “That’s a relief!”

  “Let’s go back to the town square,” I said looking at all of them, “I have an idea.”

  Kiev gave me a look, but shrugged and didn’t say anything.

  When we finally got there, I looked around it, and then looked at the three of them. “I say we build it here.”

  “What?” Narasamman looked shocked, “Here?”

  “It’s the perfect location,” I said holding my arms out and motioning at the surrounding buildings. “Everyone important lives here, there’s lots of space, and a great pub right across the street.”

  “But this is the town’s square!” she said looking at me shocked.

  Kevi looked around the square then back at me, “While I agree the spot is perfect, I don’t think they’ll let us build here.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “It’s the last open space in town; I’d be surprised if they wanted to lose it.”

  “Well I’ll go ask them and see.”

  “Wait, you’ll what?” Narasamman said shocked.

  “Go ask. The council’s in session and they’re just over there.” And I walked off towards the hall next to Lord Bryan’s place with Narasamman and Kevi hurrying to catch up.

  When I walked into the room, they were all still there, discussing something about the town’s expansion.

  Lord Bryan looked up, “Yes Will? Can I help you?”

  “Actually yes, I was wondering if we could just build the new temple to Feliogustus in the town square, seeing as the town is going to be expanding, we thought its larger space would be appropriate.”

  Lord Bryan looked shocked and the others all started to talk loudly for a few minutes. No one seemed very fond of the idea. When Lord Bryan finally got them settled down, he turned back to me.

  “That really is a most unusual request William.”

  I nodded, “I know, but it will be months before all of the families moving back out to their farms are gone and those extra buildings can be pulled down. Then when the army gets here they’ll probably want to build a garrison next to the city, which will mean moving the city walls anyway, and that will give you the chance to build a much larger and nicer town square after all.”

  “But that could take months!” One of them said.

  “Even when it’s done it won’t take up more than a third of the square,” Kevi said stepping forward. “As it is, for the first few years in won’t be even a quarter of the current area.”

  “Still, ye be asking a lot,” the one I recalled as Clem said.

  I looked up and shrugged, “Yes, it is a lot, and I know it. But you know, Feliogustus brought me here, to serve him and the Hilanders; to help them win their war. If it hadn’t been for him, the Mulanders would still be preying on your families, your friends, your neighbors, your children.

  “I think it would be a nice way to say ‘thank you’ to your God and it would be a very impressive gift to him, if you were to do this one small thing.”

  I looked at them all, scanning the group slowly, “You don’t have to do this of course, I’m just asking it as a favor. If you say no, no one’s going to be mad or upset. I just thought it might be a little something special you might want to do, to give thanks.”

  “And this from the man who claims he doesn’t win arguments with his wife,” I head Clem mutter.

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was sure that I heard Fel laughing.

  “Well William, you have certainly given us something to think about,” Lord Bryan said softly as the rest just sat there looking at each other rather confused.

  I nodded, “We’ll let you discuss it, in private.” I turned to Narasamman and Kevi, “Let’s go.”

  As we walked back to the square, I could hear Narasamman snickering rather loudly. “You are the master of guilt, do you know that?” She said trying not to laugh as we walked.

  “What, you think they’ll go for it?” Kevi said surprised.

  “What kind of a fool turns down a request for a favor, from a God Kevi?” Narasamman said, starting to laugh out loud, “And telling them to talk about it ‘in PRIVATE!’” She started to laugh even harder then.

  “What’s so funny about that?” Kevi asked looking at me.

  “Feliogustus is Omniscient.” I replied.

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means that he’s going to hear every word they say whether they like it or not!” Narasamman said between laughs. “And they know it!”

  “So does this mean they’ll go for it?” Kevi asked ears perked.

  “You can bet on it,” I said smiling. “Now, how about some lunch?”

  Lord Bryan caught u
p with us just as we left the pub.

  “They said yes, didn’t they?” Narasamman asked him.

  “You Sir, play dirty,” he sighed looking rather exasperated.

  “I would have thought that to be obvious,” I said smiling back at him, “what with being called a god slayer and all that.”

  “The worst part was everyone having to take the time to explain why they thought this was a good idea and why they were behind it.”

  “Saving face?” I asked curious.

  “More like kissing butt. It’s bad luck to insult a God, especially when he’s your God and his Champion is in town. I’m going to miss the old square,” he sighed, “but I’m not stupid enough to say no. If Feliogustus needs it, then I have to let him have it. You’re right, we owe him.”

  I nodded. “Thank you.”

  Narasamman smiled at him, “Yes, I thank you and Feliogustus thanks you as well.”

  He nodded to us again and left us heading back to the council hall.

  “So,” I asked turning to Narasamman and Kevi, “what do we do next?”

  “Now I get my two surveyors and we start marking out the area.”

  “I can get us started by consecrating the grounds,” Narasamman said looking around. “Guess I should round up my acolytes and priests. With a place this big, this will take a few hours.”

  I nodded, “Guess for now I’ll just watch.”

  They both walked off then and I just sat on the tailgate of one of the carts we had brought with us. Both came back with the people they were looking for a few minutes later and unloaded equipment and went about their work.

  Narasamman’s actions were interesting at first; I’d never seen anybody consecrate anything before, especially not a priestess. Apparently, she could only do so much ground at a time, and as I watched her move a third time and start to do all of it all over again, I realized she was probably going to be doing this until after the sun had set.

  Kevi’s actions I understood a little better, I’d been exposed to surveying in college, though I’d never done any myself a friend had so I had a pretty good idea of what they were doing. He and his surveyors moved with a speed and accuracy that told me they had done this a lot. They drove stakes, marked with something that looked like paint, drew other lines and marks with chalk. I guess to some it probably looked like magic.