Do the Gods Give Us Hope?

by Jeff Henrikson

  Evisar turned menacingly to his brother and said, “Look what you’ve done. Are you happy now?”

  Mestel replied with a crooked smile. “Not yet, but I will be soon enough.”

  Evisar was shocked to realize that this is what his brother had wanted all along. Evisar had not let him kill the Krone with his bow, so Mestel had found another way to execute the Krone.

  ____________________________________

  Valihorn watched the humans drag the Krone up on the platform and put a noose around his neck. Valihorn knew that what was about to happen was wrong, but he did not think his magic alone would be enough to stop the hanging, and it might turn the mob against him or his friends. He looked around for help. Nero seemed perfectly content to watch events unfold, and the elven brothers were staring each other down with barely controlled anger.

  He moved his horse over to Xander and said, “We cannot let this happen. Will you help me stop it?”

  Xander moved his head from side to side with indecision, clearly torn about what to do in this instance. Valihorn watched with mild curiosity as Xander dug into one of his pouches and held up his platinum coin of Fortuna. He held the coin in his right hand and flipped it in the air. He caught it with his right hand and looked at the result.

  He thrust the coin back into his pouch and said, “I think I’m going to stay right here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I’m not moving to stop anything. You’re on your own, my friend.”

  With no way to stop the ceremony, short of risking his own life, Valihorn sat atop his horse and let it happen. The humans strung up the Krone, the human leader said some words about the enemies of Kentar, and then the stool was shoved out from underneath the Krone, leaving him to dangle in the air until he suffocated to death.

  Valihorn looked away and saw Ellen walking briskly back toward the companions with her daughter’s hand tightly intertwined in her own. With the deed done, the crowd of humans began to disperse. Valihorn noticed that Evisar and Mestel were still staring each other down.

  On the horse next to him, Xander said, “Damn it.”

  He dismounted from his horse and walked over to the brothers. Suddenly, Evisar lashed out at Mestel with a solid punch to the face. Mestel punched him back. The brothers lunged for each other just as Xander put himself in between and forced them apart. Nero grabbed Evisar as Valihorn held onto Mestel.

  The brothers continued to struggle as Xander screamed out. “Hey, how much attention are you trying to draw to yourselves! They just hung the Krone; do you want to be next?”

  That finally got Evisar and Mestel to stand down. After a moment of calm, Xander continued, “Now, I hate to be the voice of reason, but I don’t think this is the time or place.”

  Xander turned purposefully toward Mestel and said, “You are a damned fool. Do you know how badly that could have gone for us?”

  Mestel said, “He’s dead, isn’t he? Justice was done.”

  Evisar lunged half-heartedly for his brother once again. “We found Faye, at your insistence. But that wasn’t enough for you. You had to see justice done. What do you think is going to happen the next time these people see an elf? They’re going to hang him too.” He moved closer to Mestel in order to whisper. “Do you know how many of our countrymen you may have killed today?”

  Mestel backed away thoughtfully, seeming to realize for the first time what he might have done.

  Xander turned toward Evisar and said, “Now that we have Faye back, we should get off the streets as quickly as possible.” Evisar nodded in appreciation of Xander’s logic.

  The situation was so tense Valihorn was afraid weapons would be drawn – until Ellen came walking up and gave Evisar a huge hug.

  “Thank you. Thank you. I can’t thank you enough.” Then she let go of Evisar and switched excitedly to hug Mestel. She embraced him happily and said, “My daughter is safe. Thank you.”

  Ellen’s thanks seemed to break the tension. Mestel hugged Ellen gratefully and whispered some words into her ear that Valihorn could not hear. Ellen was still hugging Mestel with Faye close by when Evisar took command of the situation.

  “I’m glad we could help you recover your daughter. The gods must have guided us to her, otherwise we never would have succeeded, and she would have been lost for all time.”

  Ellen nodded her head in acceptance of Evisar’s words. She held out her arm and hugged Faye fiercely once again. “You must let me know if there is anything we can do to repay you.”

  Evisar looked at Ellen and said, “I’m glad we could help.” Then he looked at his brother for a moment before turning his back on him. “We should leave the forum and find an inn for the night. Let’s head farther south toward the other side of town.”

  Everyone looked at Mestel, waiting to see what he would do.

  Before anyone could move, Xander said, “Evisar, I respectfully suggest that we spend the night in the Basilica of Fortuna on the far side of the forum. I’m sure I can convince them to let us stay one night, and we would have the protection of the entire church.” Evisar looked skeptical. Xander continued, “Wouldn’t it be nice to get a decent night’s sleep for a change?”

  Evisar said, “What is really going on, Xander? What is your real interest in this temple?”

  Xander looked away sheepishly. “I used to think of myself as a clever rogue. After all, I did manage to steal …”

  Xander stopped talking and looked over at Nero. He had been about to mention the gem that he had stolen from the Talon Thieves Guild, but Nero was not privy to that information. Neither was Ellen for that matter. Everyone looked at Nero to see if he had caught on to the fact that he was out of the loop, but he just had a blank look on his face, waiting for the conversation to continue.

  Xander said, “Anyway, clearly I have traveled with this group for too long. You are beginning to learn how my mind works.” Everyone waited patiently for him to continue. “Fine. Everything I said about the church protecting us for the night was true, but the temple is also supposed to mark the exact spot where Fortuna came down to Tellus during the Year of Angels. It is our holiest spot, and I really should visit the temple while I am here.”

  Evisar listened dispassionately to what Xander had to say. “Well, I imagine the Basilica would be safer than a random inn. And since we are already here, there is no harm in trying. Why don’t you lead the way?”

  Chapter 92: The Basilica of Fortuna

  Xander had gotten Evisar to agree to stay at the temple of Fortuna for a night; now he just needed to get the priests to take them in. The priests of the basilica would take him in for the night, there was no question of that, but what about his companions? He had to try. He had to become more pious and show his respect. Memories of his time in purgatory were quick to rise to the surface of his mind. The short amount of time he had spent with the God of the Dead was more than enough to last him an eternity. But it was eternity he was talking about. When he had died at the Old Shetley Fortress, Fortuna had forsaken him. The God of the Dead said he had lived a selfish life, and Xander could not argue against that point. He had joined the Talon Guild knowing full well what they were. He had stolen the diamond gem from the Talon Guild – not because an innocent wizard was trapped inside, or because he was trying to thwart the Guild. Rather, Xander had stolen the gem so that he could sell it for a fortune and retire to a life of ease with women and servants as he wished.

  His entire life had been that way. Put on appearances. Say the right thing. Find the path of least resistance. Take the easy way out. Keep your secrets to yourself, for they are what give you power over others. Well, no more! When he died and went back to purgatory for the second time, he wanted to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Fortuna would come for him. If that meant reforming his ways and helping others, then so be it. It was not enough to look the part by doing and saying the right things. It seemed he had to actually believe these things in his heart. The first step on the road to red
emption was to pray at the exact spot where his goddess had appeared to her followers so many hundreds of years ago. Xander sighed at the huge amount of work that lay in front of him.

  Everyone dismounted from their horses and followed his lead to the Basilica on the far side of the forum. Xander noticed that Nero grabbed the reins of the Krone’s horse and took it along with them. Xander locked eyes with Nero and gave him a silent nod of respect. While the horse technically was not theirs, it was worth a good sum of money, and the Krone wouldn’t be needing it any longer. Xander led the companions across the forum, trying to draw as little attention as possible. There were still a large number of humans conducting business at the bazaar and staring at the dead Krone as he dangled from a rope. Xander kept looking from side to side, expecting trouble at any moment, but everyone seemed to give them a wide berth. His eyes unconsciously focused on the Basilica itself. The Basilica complex was located in the heart of the city, surrounded on all sides by an eight-foot-tall iron fence. The iron fence ran the length of an entire city block. The main temple was four stories high with a steeple that towered into the air above everything else in the surrounding city. The temple, dormitory, and walkways were made of a mixture of white and gray marble and granite. The stone slate of the forum ran right up to the iron fence, where lush green grass led up to the temple structure. It was a humbling sight. A grand testament to the Lady of Luck.

  There was but one visible entrance to the Basilica and two Knights of Luck guarded it. Xander led his horse up to the gate and stopped in front of the two heavily armed guards.

  One of the guards said, “May I help you, sir?”

  Xander stood there confidently, with his companions at his back, and said, “Yes, we are all followers of Fortuna. We have made the pilgrimage to Locus in order to see the spot where our goddess first appeared on Tellus.”

  One of the guards looked disapprovingly at Xander, and then looked behind him at the rest of the companions. “Is that a fact? All of you are followers of Fortuna, huh?”

  “That’s right. May we pass and go into the temple?”

  The guard spoke loudly to his partner at the gate. “Samual, do you think we can take anyone else in?” Then he turned to Xander and said, “You see, we’ve had our fill of beggars faking belief in the Lady of Luck to receive a free meal or a place to stay for the night.”

  Xander was puzzled. Followers of Fortuna were not usually so bitter. “I assure you we are not beggars; we have our own food. We only want to pay our respects to Fortuna.”

  Samual said, “We are sorry to seem so negative, but we recently took in a hundred and fifty refugees. Most of them are still here, and they are stretching our resources to the limit.”

  Xander nodded in understanding and reached into his pocket to produce the palm sized platinum coin of Fortuna. He showed the guards the coin, which had a picture of the Basilica on one side and a full rainbow on the other.

  “As you can see, I am in fact a priest of Fortuna.” Xander flipped the coin in the air, looked at the result, and thrust the coin back into one of his pouches. “I have as much right to be at this temple as the two of you.”

  The original guard was not impressed. “You could have killed one of our priests and stolen that coin. Do you claim to know the words of Fortuna?”

  “Of course.”

  The guard stood up a little straighter before he said, “Losers whine about the odds …”

  Xander reflexively said, “… Let Lady Luck control your destiny and good fortune will abound.”

  The guard frowned in disappointment and said, “Lucky guess. You play the part well enough, I’ll grant you that. But even if you’re a priest, I’ll have bad luck for a year before I believe your friends are.”

  Xander turned around, looked at the companions, and then looked back at the guard. “I’ll grant you that. My friends are new converts. We traveled a long way to see the Basilica. You don’t want to turn them away with their newfound faith crushed, do you?”

  Samual pulled out his own platinum coin of Fortuna, flipped it in the air, observed the result, and put the coin away. “Oh, let them in. They seem honest enough. Besides, they all have horses, so they can’t be beggars.”

  “All right. Go up the path to the Basilica and one of the monks will take care of you.”

  Xander led the companions through the gate with their horses in tow. When they were out of earshot of anyone else Ellen said, “This is not a very friendly order you have here. They almost turned us away at the gate?”

  “I swear to you that it is normally not so. The Basilica must be under a great deal of stress these days,” Xander said.

  Everyone quieted down as the monk at the temple door walked toward them. “Good day to you; may good fortune abound.”

  Xander said, “Good day to you as well. We have all come on a pilgrimage to the Basilica. We seek lodging for the night so that we might pray on the spot where our goddess first came to Tellus.”

  “Ah. We are glad to have you.” The monk made a whistling sound and two of the groundskeepers came rushing over. The monk said to them, “Will you please stable their horses for the evening?”

  The older groundskeeper said, “Yes, your holiness,” and came forward to grab the reins of three of the horses. The other keeper moved forward more timidly and took the reins of the remaining three horses.

  After they were gone, the monk continued, “We don’t get as many converts these days. You are to be commended for your dedication, my son.”

  “Yes, well, it can be difficult at times, but I do the work gladly,” Xander said.

  The monk opened up one of the twelve-foot-tall doors that led into the Basilica. Xander was expecting to see dark hallways with rugged stone passages. As the monk led them inside, Xander saw instead that the floor and walls consisted of polished white marble that brightly reflected the firelight put forth by the torches that lined the walls.

  The monk continued to talk as he walked down the wide hallway to a stairwell at the far end of the building. “As you probably know, this Basilica was built more than 500 years ago, not long after the Year of Angels. This temple marks the very spot where Fortuna came down to us from the heavens. Locus was little more than a collection of farm houses at the time.”

  Xander said, “Didn’t one of the local farmers take Fortuna in and shelter her from harm?”

  “Yes, that is true. A believer by the name of Raymon saw her descend from the heavens and was the first to realize what had happened.”

  The monk made it to the circular marble staircase at the end of the hall and started walking down the narrow spiral staircase, talking all the while. “Our goddess was very nearly killed that day, for her arch enemy, Statica, god of predictability and certainty, chose to descend to Tellus at the exact same spot as our goddess in order to murder her and take her power for his own.”

  Xander said, “That is why the gods almost never come down to Tellus and why we haven’t seen a god for over five hundred years.”

  “Yes, it is said that a god can only be killed on Tellus, or up in their godly domain in the heavens. Nevertheless, Statica attacked our goddess with sword and magic immediately after touching down on Tellus. Legend has it that Fortuna was taken by surprise and would have died if Raymon hadn’t heroically stepped in to save her. Raymon distracted Statica long enough for Fortuna to stab her archenemy through the heart.

  “Raymon came to the aid of our goddess in her most desperate hour and was rewarded tenfold for his service. He laid the foundation for this Basilica, changed his name to Fortius, and eventually became high priest of the church.”

  “He must have been quite a man?”

  “Indeed he was. We have not seen his like since our goddess ascended back to the heavens. Our current high priest, Fortiac, is a great man, but even he can’t compare with the accomplishments of old.”

  Xander said, “We are only mortal, after all. I’m sure being in the presence of one’s god is a motivating ex
perience to say the least.” Xander thought of Mestel and wondered if that was what happened to him. Perhaps he had been too hard on the follower of Martel. Xander thought for a moment more before he said to himself, Perhaps not.

  The monk reached the bottom of the staircase and walked into a hallway. Even though Xander knew they were underground, the hallway still looked bright, and aside from the fact that there were no windows, he would never have guessed they were underground. The monk walked forty feet down the hallway and stopped in front of two ten-foot-tall mahogany doors. As the companions stopped behind the monk the knight standing guard threw open the door with dramatic affect. The sanctuary was huge. In addition to the size of the hall, the lighting was spectacular. Fifteen feet off the ground and completely surrounding the room, were stain glass windows filtering the sun’s light into brilliantly cascading colors. The sanctuary was easily four hundred feet long and fifty feet tall. The white and gray of the marble complimented the dark cherry wood pews and altar very nicely. Xander looked around the room in awe, then his breath was nearly taken away when his eyes focused on the altar. High above the altar was a fifty-foot by fifty-foot stained glass window of a full rainbow. The span of colors in the rainbow is what made the glass so remarkable, with the red changing gradually over to orange in a way that seemed more true-to-life than the most complete rainbow Xander had seen.

  The monk allowed them time to take in the room. After a while, he walked down the center aisle with the companions close behind. The monk continued to speak – his voice echoing off the walls of the empty hall.

  “The altar marks the exact spot where Fortuna descended from the heavens more than five hundred years ago. The location is now underground because sediment has collected over the last five centuries. The streets of Locus are now ten feet above the location of the altar.”

  Xander took a few steps forward before the monk said, “Feel free to look around and pray at the foot of the altar if you like.”