Midnight Quest

by Honor Raconteur

  Bortonor was glued to her side the entire time she examined Chizeld, but the guardsman didn’t seem to mind the dog’s suspicions. Like Sarvell, he seemed to have an easy temperament. But when he heard everything that had happened to Jewel, he seethed with rage.

  “Did not know of trouble,” he told her between gritted teeth. “Only knew that commander said had orders to return home. Assumed orders came from Priestess. Priestess, after all, is only one to have authority to order Guard to do anything.”

  “It might have been from the high priestess,” Jewel responded on a long sigh. She retreated a few steps to her bedroll and sat down on it heavily. “By the time I inherited the position, the Guard was already gone. I had no means of contacting you either. They blocked every attempt I made.”

  “Need to investigate this,” Chizeld determined.

  “Yes, I’d say you do,” Sarvell agreed from his place near the cook fire. “But we can do that on the way to Veris’s crystal. For now, let’s focus on Bryn’s. Jewel, how close do you think we are?”

  “Close,” she answered, turning toward the crystal instinctively. “I’d say…another two days of riding, more or less.”

  “Elahandra is calling more high priestesses.” Chizeld said it as if he meant it to be a statement, but an edge of doubt crept in.

  Jewel’s brows drew together in confusion. “Why would she need to? I can charge the crystals.”

  “Uhhhh…”

  At his uncertain pause, her frown deepened. “Can’t I? Chizeld, what do you know that I don’t?”

  “Family has been guarding high priestesses for three generations,” he told her with slow, careful words. “Have much lore and stories about crystals because of that. A lone priestess can charge crystal without help, that is true. It would take years to do so. Charging crystal is very draining. Previous priestess that great-grandfather guarded said charging crystal was not unlike trying to strangle electric eel. In the past, priestess always chose to charge crystal weekly with sister-priestesses for that reason.”

  The other occupants of the camp were obviously listening in, as Sarvell darkly stated, “Because it was easier to maintain the energy than to let it drain away and then recharge it.”

  “Precisely,” Chizeld confirmed. “With four crystals completely drained…Priestess, there is no way this can be done alone.”

  Jewel determined right then and there to pick this man’s brain. She’d had tomes of books and scrolls read to her straight from the Order’s library throughout her life and yet she had just learned more about the crystal’s workings from this man in only five minutes. She blew out a long breath and sat back, thinking. Elahandra, you knew about this from the beginning.

  “Of course,” her goddess answered dryly.

  So can I assume that you’ve been searching for other high priestesses?

  “You certainly may. I’m afraid that I couldn’t find four worthy young women that would be right for this. But I’ve found three. One of them is here in Bryn and she is even now waiting to meet you.”

  This was so typical of Elahandra, to give her the information she needed only after she knew enough to ask the question. She will be Bryn’s high priestess then?

  “Yes. Her name is Clarion Hahn. You’ll quite like her, Jewel. She has spunk.”

  She’d better. Otherwise she’d never be able to deal with the position of high priestess. Especially since the Order in this area of the country had long since lapsed into nothing more than an abandoned building.

  “Don’t worry,” Elahandra assured her in a gentle tone. “You won’t be doing this alone. I never intended you to.”

  Thank you. Jewel let out a sigh when her goddess’s presence disappeared. “Apparently we’re three steps behind, gentlemen. Elahandra has already chosen the next priestess candidates. The High Priestess of Bryn is coming even now to meet us. Her name is Clarion Hahn.”

  “Do you know her, Sarvell?”

  “Do you realize how big this clan is, Rialt?” Sarvell responded, voice heavy with exasperation. “No, I don’t know her. The Hahn name is familiar, though. We trade with that family for furs every winter. She’s probably a daughter of the family.”

  “All Elahandra told me is that she has spunk.” Jewel shook her head. Typical. They didn’t really have much in the way of information. “Well, regardless, she will meet us at the crystal.”

  ~*~*~*~

  Jewel felt very lethargic the next morning, waking with some difficulty. Her mind felt like it drifted through some kind of haze. Bortonor had snuggled himself into her bedroll at some point in the night (as he was wont to do) so she felt nice and toasty.

  “Three times,” Chizeld said with a note of disbelief. “On this long trip.”

  “Three times,” Sarvell confirmed although he sounded on the verge of laughter. “And once it was only because of a cover story. You can see why I’m jumping to conclusions.”

  Three times? What were they talking about? Jewel instinctively lay still, acting as if she were asleep. She’d been taught from an early age never to eavesdrop, but at the same time…

  Chizeld stated slowly, “Priestess is the kind of woman that draws out a man’s protective instincts.”

  “No doubt of it,” Sarvell agreed readily. “You should have seen me after I’d just met her. But that eased when I realized just how capable she is. Rialt’s just got stronger. You think the dog is bad? Try crossing him.”

  Oh. They were talking about her. And Rialt. He must’ve been down in that little creek far from the camp if they felt safe enough to talk about him. She didn’t hear him anywhere nearby.

  “The duty falls to the Sanhan of the Guard to protect the priestess.”

  “Good luck convincing him of that.” Sarvell clearly put that possibility somewhere near zero, along with the chances of money growing on trees. “It wasn’t personal, not at first. She’s the first priestess to stand against Belthain and their agendas to protect Ramath. I think if she’d been a troll, he’d still guard her because of that alone. But you’ve seen for yourself what she’s like. Now, for him, it’s very personal. Gostrum’s right hand, but truth is, for me it’s personal.”

  “High Priestess should have a full complement of guards around her.” Chizeld came mightily close to a whine saying this.

  “It’s not going to happen, not until Elahandra has vetted every single one of them,” Sarvell informed him bluntly. “And Jewel certainly isn’t going to ride with you, not until Rialt and Bortonor trust you. You might as well get used to that right now because I doubt it’s going to change in the next few weeks.”

  What a fascinating conversation. Jewel had assumed that at some point the men had sat down and worked out a plan of action to protect her. Her riding with Rialt every time had been some sort of safety protocol, or so she’d thought. But apparently she’d thought wrong.

  Should she ask Rialt if Sarvell was right? Somehow that seemed the wrong tack to her. Rialt had been consistently better at showing how he felt about things rather than speaking of it. Perhaps it would be wiser for her to start paying better attention to her companions and not focusing as much on what they said.

  Rialt’s long, heavy stride coming back into camp abruptly ended the conversation, somewhat to Jewel’s regret. A saddlebag thumped heavily to the hard packed earth as Rialt asked, “What, she’s still abed?”

  “Neither of us are brave enough to reach over Bortonor to wake her up,” Sarvell drawled. “Since we know that he won’t take off your hand, why don’t you do the honors?”

  Rialt gave a deep chuckle but didn’t deny it. The ground crunched under his feet as he came and knelt down next to her. Beside her, Bortonor abruptly stiffened at the other man’s proximity, but did not make any noise. He had indeed come to a grudging truce with Rialt. A hard but warm hand landed lightly on her shoulder. “Wake now, lass. Yon road beckons, and we had best be about it.”

  She took a deep breath and let her eyes open, as if she truly had just awoken. �
��Good morning.”

  “Morning,” he responded. “Come, I will walk you down to yon creek—”

  Bortonor let out a very unhappy growl in the back of his throat.

  “—oh, so that be your job?” Rialt challenged. “You watch her step, then. Mind, the way be steep for her.”

  The dog let out a huff as if insulted by this unnecessary reminder. He rose from his comfortable spot—which let a blast of cool air in to chill her side—and shook himself from head to tail. Having lost her heat source, Jewel sighed and climbed to her feet. As she found her boots next to the blankets and slipped them on, she couldn’t help but reflect on Sarvell’s statement. He was right.

  Rialt truly was worse than the dog.

  ~*~*~*~

  When riding through largely deserted foothills covered in nothing but unending waves of tall grass, there wasn’t much to do to pass the time aside from conversation. Jewel rode in front of Rialt (as usual) with Bortonor trotting along on one side and Chizeld on the other. She took advantage of the proximity and the relative peace of the morning to pepper the man with questions.

  “I’m starting to question everything that was read to me, everything that I was taught in the Order,” she admitted to Chizeld frankly. “I’ve encountered too many contradictions in my travels to what I was told. And I learned very little about the crystal while growing up. In fact, it’s only experience and vague instructions from Elahandra that has taught me as much as I now know. You seem to know more than I do. Start from the very beginning and tell me everything you know.”

  “Everything?” Chizeld asked in bemusement. “Even from the time Elahandra decided to give the crystals to the clans?”

  “From the very beginning,” Jewel repeated firmly. Rialt and Sarvell didn’t say a word, but she could feel their keen interest in the conversation. Rialt twisted ever so slightly in the saddle to face Chizeld more directly.

  The horses’ hooves thudded against the packed dirt for several moments before Chizeld snorted. “From the beginning, then. When the Father God of this world created it, each fledgling god was assigned certain people to guide and protect. This would be the gods’ testing ground, a place to learn how to govern mortal men. At first, the gods did well with the new role. But as time went on, some of the gods grew weary of the task. Other pursuits were found and attention deviated from the humans the gods were supposed to guide and protect. Broeske, the God of Learning, was the first to ignore people in favor of experiments. Baurthan, the God of Order, soon lost all patience with the chaos that mortals create and followed Broeske’s example.”

  So far she found no difference in the story he told than the one she had grown up hearing. She waved a hand for him to continue when he paused.

  “Then Cherchez, the God of Tricks, begin to stir up people against Evard. Cherchez was bored with the relative peace of the land, and convinced the Daath that conquering Evard’s people would make life easier. The Daath began to come against Evard’s citizens and the Jordia Clan was the first to suffer from Daath armies. Elahandra, Goddess of Light, saw what was happening to the people because of sibling’s neglect. It angered the goddess and Elahandra resolved to help. Could not do anything directly because Elahandra had no power outside of Jordia’s territory. Went to siblings and urged to help people, but to no avail.

  “Then Ramath was invaded by the Daath. The goddess, Juven, had gone on a hunting expedition and thoughts were far from people. Elahandra could not stand to see the war rage on, even though it did not affect own people, and tracked sister down. Juven was remorseful and came to help Ramath, but many lives had already been lost.

  “To prevent this from ever happening again, Elahandra called the brothers and sister together in council. There it was decided that Elahandra could establish one Order in each territory that would provide a strong barrier to protect the entire country. Only through called servants would Elahandra be allowed to act. Goddess of Protection constructed large crystals to store power in and fuel the barrier and called a priestess to manage each one.”

  “Wait, wait,” Sarvell interrupted from behind them. “Now, I was told that none of the other gods were interested in protecting their people and so Elahandra took on the task for them.”

  Chizeld’s saddle creaked as he turned in it. “No, not so. The other gods wanted people to be protected, but were afraid that didn’t have the concentration necessary to keep up with it. Elahandra did. That’s why task was given to the Goddess of Protection.”

  “Sarvell’s version is the one I heard as well,” Jewel admitted slowly. “It’s because of the other gods’ neglect that Elahandra’s Order has the right to interfere in other clan’s territories, or so I’ve always been told.”

  “Lorin, you be sure of this?” Rialt asked in a soft, neutral tone.

  “Very sure,” Chizeld answered firmly. “The book this story comes from has been in the family for seven generations. Very old. It is the truest version.”

  “So the question stands, why was the story changed?” Sarvell clearly meant this as a more rhetorical question. “Was it simply altered through time, depending on who was copying it down from one book to another? Or was it purposefully changed for more political reasons?”

  “I think political,” Rialt growled.

  “I’m inclined to agree,” Jewel said in a matching growl. “Cherchez’s beard! No wonder things have become so chaotic. There’re too many agendas that are making a mess of things.”

  “I feel sorry for the new priestesses about to be called,” Sarvell remarked on a long sigh. “They’re going to have their hands full. With the newest version being the accepted truth, they’re going to be facing a lot of political upheaval.”

  “Except with Ramath,” Rialt reminded him.

  “Well of course except Ramath. Ramath is against anything Thornock says!”

  “Eh, well…we be tired of dealing with the Daath too.”

  Jewel rubbed at her temples, feeling a headache coming on. “One problem at a time, gentlemen. Alright, so putting the crystals back in the right position is actually the first step of the solution. Having a high priestess called for each crystal is the second. But she can’t do the job alone—” as Jewel had learned painfully well “—so she’ll need to call in help. Either a guard of sorts or something similar.”

  “Priestess Jomadd cannot do this last task, not in the other territories.” Chizeld’s tone brooked no disagreement. “For one thing, not enough time. Building an Order takes years before fully operational. For another, do not have the authority. High Priestess of Thornock only has authority in Thornock. Already operating outside of jurisdiction just to find crystals and put them back,” he admitted.

  Lovely. Hence why Elahandra was calling other priestesses, no doubt. Jewel hated to just find the crystal, slide it back into place, give the newly called priestess a crash course of the job and then run. But it looked like she didn’t really have much of an option. Chizeld was right about the authority and the time restraints. As High Priestess of Thornock, she really shouldn’t be outside of her clan’s territory. And the crystal in Thornock barely had any energy left in it. She had a limited amount of time to put everything back where it should be and recharge the crystals otherwise the barrier, weak as it was, would fail entirely.

  Weren’t impossible tasks supposed to get easier over time?

  Chapter Twelve

  Rialt kept a close eye on Lorin as they travelled. Sent by Elahandra or no, he did no know the man, and he did no trust him quite yet. Jewel did no seem to have the same hesitation—she readily accepted him as she had he and Sarvell. In fact, as they rode, Jewel’s focus had narrowed specifically to the location of Bryn’s crystal and pumping Chizeld for information. A whole day had passed as she satisfied her curiosity.

  He almost blessed her distraction, for he did no want to worry her, no without cause. But he knew full well that the safety of being in Ramath had passed. They were nearing Bryn’s borders now, and Bryn had close ties t
o Thornock. A trade clan by nature, they had close ties with everyone, but Thornock had more sway here than any other clan’s territory. Here, he expected trouble.

  They did no dare discuss it openly, but a glance at Sarvell conveyed the idea well enough. The merchant’s son looked grim, as if he expected trouble around the next bend. Lorin picked up on it as well, and he started paying better attention to their surroundings. But no trace of it entered his voice as he answered the lass’s questions and Rialt silently blessed him for that.

  If worst came, Rialt could likely trust Sarvell to take her and run. Fighting on this open place would no be his first choice, but here he likely could no pick the battlefield. He kept sneaking glances at Lorin as they rode. The man looked strong enough, and Elahandra would no send a weakling to guard the lass, but that did no mean he knew enough to trust the man to guard his back if a fight did break out.

  Lovenanty, but he did no like this. No one bit.

  They started the second day of traveling with Lorin, no trouble on the horizon. But that meant they were that much closer to Bryn. If something were amiss, Rialt would no be able to spot it. He did no know the area well enough for that. But Sarvell would…maybe he should send the man ahead to scout a little afore they reached a town.

  After traveling a good portion of the day this way, Jewel demanded, “What? What’s wrong?”

  “No one said a word about something being amiss.”

  “I’m blind, not oblivious,” she snapped back, turning in his arms so that she could hear his voice better over the sound of hoof beats. “You keep loosening your weapons in their sheaths. All of you are on edge. Why?”

  “Observant,” Chizeld approved. He sounded strangely proud of her, too. Rialt’s eyes cut to him. A small smile played along the man’s lips and he truly did look pleased with her. “Good. In answer, Ramath’s border is behind. In Bryn now.”