Crisis of Faith by Benjamin Medrano (z-lib.org)

by Unknown

  “I don’t doubt you, there. Unlike you, I have seen larger cities, as well as mountain fortresses of the dwarves, but none of them are as… fully formed as this one is. Most of them grew gradually over time, which leads to inconsistencies in the city. I wouldn’t say that Beacon is flawless, far from it, but it’s obvious that there aren’t going to be any slums for a long time to come,” Elissa said, then nodded to Nadis. “Bright morning, Archpriestess.”

  “And to you,” Nadis said, examining Elissa critically, then murmured, “You’re more well-traveled than I anticipated.”

  “I was born in the south, on Istan. That’s where Silence is, after all,” Elissa said, shrugging as she smiled a bit more. “Adventurers tend to travel a lot, so it doesn’t seem unusual to me.”

  “Mm, well, that explains why your surname is ‘of Silence.’ I’d been wondering about it,” Diamond said, sitting back and relaxing at the polite interaction between the two.

  “Ah, Silence… such a strange town,” Elissa said, smiling wistfully as she paused, thinking for a moment, then shrugged. “It bore the brunt of the effects of the Godsrage itself, if in a very different manner than the mountains here. Much less directly destructive.”

  “Oh?” This time, to Diamond’s surprise, it was Elissa’s fellow priestess who spoke, as Roxanne looked up from the papers she had been preparing for the day. “What do you mean?”

  Diamond focused on Elissa as well, honestly curious as to what she meant. She knew a bit about how much damage had been done during the Godsrage, from the Sandsea in the south to the Whirling Abyss of the eastern isles, but she’d never heard of Silence. The subject fascinated her, though she supposed that it was nice to be distant from the horror of experiencing the Godsrage itself. The survivors of old Everium often changed the subject when asked about it, as none of them were terribly comfortable talking about it.

  “Well… do we have a few minutes before we begin, Aldem?” Elissa asked, and the priest nodded, looking oddly fascinated as well. In fact, Diamond realized, everyone had stopped talking or moving to listen. The human looked around, then smiled wryly as she murmured, “I see that I have a proper audience for this, hm? So, how to explain Silence?”

  The woman was quiet for a minute, then finally spoke softly. “In Silence, you will never hear a word spoken. No dogs will bark, no birds will sing, no cocks will crow. No creature can speak there, nor can magic project the illusions of voices. The only sounds are those created by daily labors or that occur naturally. Those of us who were born there grew up without ever hearing the voices of one another, and for ten miles in every direction the effect is constant. The town has tried moving before, but for whatever reason the zone of silence travels with it. I grew up learning to ‘talk’ by using sticks that we tapped together, some of them textured to make more complex sounds. In any case, the effect was created by the death of a god of music who can no longer be named. According to legends, he was killed by four other deities above the town during the Godsrage, and with his death the town was plunged into silence, as were his murderers. No, the town is in a near-continual hush, as if in mourning for his death. That is Silence.”

  For a moment everyone was quiet, and Diamond almost felt her breath catch in her throat, trying to even imagine a town where no one could speak, where no one could sing. It was… difficult.

  “If that’s the case, how is it that you can speak so well? I would think that you’d have difficulty speaking, if you grew up someplace like that,” Aldem asked, tilting his head as he looked at Elissa with wide eyes.

  “Through a lot of practice. It took a few years, to be frank, but not growing up with speech allowed me to learn to control my voice a bit more clearly, from what my teachers said,” Elissa told him, grinning and shrugging. “It’s one of those things that natives of Silence have to deal with, and why a lot of them don’t leave. A few of those of us who do leave become merchants, traveling back and forth since we’re fluent in both languages. I was tempted to do the same for a time but decided against it.”

  “Interesting,” Diamond murmured, considering the subject, then smiled wryly. “The deaths of the gods did have an outsized impact on the world, didn’t it? I wonder if there are other lands we’ve never heard of who had the same sort of things happen to them.”

  “Most likely, as unfortunate as it may be,” Nadis said, sitting down and examining Elissa closely. It took a moment for Diamond to realize that some of her distrust toward the human seemed like it had eased, which was a good sign. “Now, then… shall we go ahead and start for the day? I know it’s early, but as we’re all here, I don’t see any reason not to start.”

  “Nor do I, but first… are there any objections?” Aldem asked, looking around the table. Diamond shook her head, and the scribes pulled out their pens while Ruby activated the recording device. After a moment Aldem nodded. “In that case, I’m calling this session of the conference between the churches of Medaea and Tyria to order.”

  “Thank you, Aldem. Now, my first question for you is, did you have a chance to go over the book in sufficient detail, Nadis?” Elissa asked promptly, leaning forward in her chair as she continued. “I’ll admit that I found Tyria’s explanations yesterday fascinating, but unlike you I wasn’t able to go over the evidence.”

  “We did. With some assistance in translating a few phrases from the head librarian, we were able to examine the books, and Tyria’s explanation of Medaea’s original nature was… accurate. Possibly even understated,” Nadis said, her tone obviously reluctant. “Considering that, we decided to send the copy we were given back to Yisara, with the explanation it was an original copy of Medaea’s Illuminations that was found. That should allow any… adjustments that are decided upon to be made more easily.”

  “Ahh, not a bad thought,” Diamond murmured, nodding in understanding as she sat back in her chair. She did admire how Nadis was handling things, considering the unpleasant situation. Part of her wondered if the decision to sequester the true archpriestess of Medaea’s church in the hidden temple had been wise… but what was done was done.

  “Indeed? That makes a great deal of sense. Fortunately, our church is young enough that we can handle changes easier, though I’m sure some of the faithful won’t necessarily be quite as pleased,” Elissa said, glancing at her companions as Ollie cleared his throat.

  “If I may, High Priestess? While that’s true, I think that the majority of our faith are former slaves at the moment, and they… well, they don’t want to be slaves anymore. They chose to follow Tyria because she was the first person who truly seemed to care about what happened to them,” Ollie said, shifting nervously as everyone looked at him. “It’s why I followed her, after all, and it’s something that has come up again and again. Many of the slave owners in Kelvanath thought they were above the law, right up until Tyria destroyed some of the most powerful men and women in the city. That was the turning point, as far as I’m concerned, and so long as she retains that sense of… of justice, I think that many of our people will follow her.”

  “Well, doesn’t that give us some common ground,” Nadis said, slowly smiling and nodding. “In that case, let’s talk about just what Medaea once meant, and what she means to the people of Yisara now.”

  Diamond leaned forward at that, happy that things were starting to move forward. Perhaps Tyria’s interruption had been for the best, in the end, as neither side seemed to be resisting moving forward now.

  Tyria watched and listened as the three groups spoke with one another, a slight smile on her face. The goddess was present, but she’d masked her power from their senses, and had also turned invisible and almost intangible, as far as mortals were concerned. A sufficiently powerful mage could bypass that, of course, but none of those present were quite capable of that.

  Diamond wasn’t interjecting much, Tyria noted, but that was mostly because Elissa and Nadis were speaking in reasonable tones, as each discussed the major tenets of their faiths, and in particular wh
at they believed was the most important aspects to their faithful.

  Just listening was teaching Tyria a great deal about those who worshipped her, which was incredibly important to her. She might be a goddess, but she wasn’t all-powerful or all-knowing. No deities were, to Tyria’s knowledge, though the primal gods might come close.

  So Tyria watched and listened, learning what she could from her faithful. They wouldn’t be so open if she was visible, after all. But as they spoke, she smiled, murmuring softly to herself. “Medaea? Tyria? Or possibly someone else entirely? I suppose I shall have to decide.”

  Chapter 14

  The bell’s tinkle echoed through the shop, and as it did, Arise Ennarra resisted the urge to swear, nearly stabbing herself with the needle as she worked quickly on the tunic. The last thing she needed right now was more work, and unfortunately she hadn’t found any assistants she could trust of late. The last man who she’d thought was going to be helpful had been a disappointment after she’d learned he was actually just after her and Iris.

  “One moment, I’ll be right there!” Arise called out, and glanced over at her sister as she asked, “Are you alright if I go up front?”

  “Just go!” Iris replied with a laugh, smiling warmly as she worked the loom with the grace Arise remembered. “I’m fine, there’s no need to hover.”

  Iris had recovered startlingly well from her time in captivity, and Arise couldn’t even express how grateful she was to see Iris smiling and whole. She’d been surprised that the court mage had been able to heal all the scars and mutilations that’d been inflicted on her sister, and while Iris was far more cautious around people she didn’t know, she was practically back to her old self.

  After a moment Arise set the tunic aside and pulled off her thimble as she stood, shrugging as she replied sheepishly. “As you like, I just… I worry about you.”

  “I’m not going to vanish the second you turn your back. I’ve learned that lesson long ago, and it’s why we’ve replaced all the doors, locks, and windows,” Iris said tartly, pausing and setting the shuttle aside, barely giving Arise enough warning to dodge as the other elf tried to kick her. “Now go! We have a customer.”

  “Alright, if you insist,” Arise said, unable to suppress a grin as she quickly stepped out of the room.

  Arise loved her new shop, as it was far more spacious than any other shop she’d been in, and running water delivered straight to her home was an incredible luxury. The only thing that would be better was if it was heated, but that was apparently too much for even the dungeon to have built into all the buildings in the city, so instead Arise and Iris were making do with heating the water on the stove, at least for now. Arise had heard that the magi and artificers had devices for heating water, and she hoped to buy one in the near future. If she had one complaint, it was that the building was made of too much stone, but that was why they’d paid for carpenters to line the floors and walls with stained wood.

  Stepping into the shop’s foyer, Arise began speaking brightly. “Hello! How may I help…”

  Her voice trailed off as she caught sight of her guests, and a brief impulse to dart right back through the door and bar it ran through Arise, though she quickly forced it down.

  The foyer was a relatively simple room, with samples of the fabric Arise and Iris made as well as several tunics, dresses, and, particularly, coats on display. She’d emerged from behind the counter, and four people were waiting for Arise, only one of which was someone she recognized. If it hadn’t been for Isana’s presence, Arise would have retreated, in any case.

  Three humans and an elf were waiting for her, one of them a short woman with pale skin and black hair, in clothing of such a fine weave it made Arise curious where she’d gotten the warm-looking white and purple robes, while beside her were two humans who looked like natives of Kelvanis, with their usual olive skin tone. One was a woman with red hair, while the other was a tall, thin man, and they looked over at her and smiled slightly.

  Isana Dayrest cleared her throat, nodding to Arise politely as she smiled. The woman was in charge of keeping the palace running smoothly, and was a thin, icily beautiful dusk elf with long, straight silver hair, and her light blue eyes settled on Arise. To be honest, it somewhat amused Arise that the seemingly cold, primly proper woman had ended up in a relationship with Captain Desa, whose surname was Iceheart.

  “Good afternoon, Mistress Ennarra,” Isana said politely, gesturing to the others as she continued calmly. “These are members of the delegation from Tyria’s church, High Priestess Elissa of Silence, and the priests Ollie and Roxanne. They were looking for excellent tailors, and I believed that you would fit their requirements, in addition to being trustworthy.”

  “I… see,” Arise said, trying to force herself to relax a little, though it was hard. Ever since the end of the war with Kelvanis she’d found herself tense whenever she saw human natives. The stories that she’d heard from Iris caused most of that, even if her sister tried not to burden her with them. Still, she knew enough about the church of Tyria that she knew she could trust them, or at least probably could trust them. After a moment Arise took a deep breath and straightened slightly, looking at the guests. “While more business is welcome, I will say that my sister and I are currently buried in work. I currently have a large backlog of orders, and with winter the demand has only increased, so I’m not certain how quickly I can help you.”

  “You’re truly that busy?” Elissa asked, her eyebrows rising as the woman looked at Arise with her vivid electric blue eyes. “I wouldn’t have expected that, even with Beacon being relatively newly settled.”

  “It’s… well, I was going to say complicated, but that isn’t entirely true,” Arise said, changing her mind on what she was going to say, and took a deep breath before continuing calmly. “The problem is that Beacon has been exploding in population so quickly. There are four other tailors, seamstresses, and dressmakers that I’m aware of, and I’m sure more are coming, but we already have well over ten thousand people in the city. Now, consider that a huge number of those people are former slaves who didn’t have much in the way of clothing, and only five shops to provide it with winter coming…”

  Arise’s voice trailed off, and as it did she shrugged helplessly, thinking about the jobs ahead of her. Even with half her profits going to helping former slaves, she was making almost as much as she had back in Galthor, and that was without the inflated prices she’d often charged for dresses for the nobility.

  Elissa nodded in understanding, murmuring, “Ahh. That would be an issue, wouldn’t it? I thought that there were more people who’d be interested in such here, particularly since I’ve heard a lot of artisans were enslaved.”

  “To be more accurate, many people were forced to become artisans, and I’ve noticed a preponderance of former slaves have deliberately abandoned skills they were forced to take up for other professions,” Arise explained, shrugging as she continued. “Many of them have applied to the mage academy, joined the city guard, or become adventurers, mostly so they can defend themselves. Not even half, of course, but it does leave us in an… interesting position. Now, all of that said, if you aren’t looking for anything too complex, I might be able to squeeze you into our schedule in a reasonable amount of time…”

  “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by their reactions, and that lends some weight to the discussions,” Ollie murmured softly, rubbing his chin, only to be shushed by Roxanne.

  Elissa looked at him in amusement as she opened her mouth to speak, only to have Isana interject smoothly. “Actually, Her Majesty asked me to tell you that you can displace her orders for Elissa and her companions, as well as if Archpriestess Nadis or Lady Diane Yisara choose to visit as well. She pointed out that while Sistina may not have your artistry, she makes perfectly good clothing for most purposes.”

  “Ah, well that changes things… though I really wish I could get my hands on a bolt or two of the cloth the dungeon makes. I’ve found its
properties fascinating,” Arise said, cheering up a little at the information, since the queen’s orders were a surprisingly large part of her business as well, since they included uniforms for the palace staff among other things. “In that case, I should be able to manage a couple of outfits within a week, if they aren’t too complex.”

  “Excellent,” Elissa said, nodding to Isana, then adding, “Roxanne? Would you please remind me to thank Her Majesty when we next see her?”

  “Of course,” Roxanne murmured, bobbing her head.

  “Good. Now, we’re primarily looking for warm, comfortable robes. It appears that the style of our clothing is going to shift to primarily white, with simple purple trim, along with possibly a touch of red or gold…” Elissa began explaining, and Arise quickly snatched up a slate to take notes.

  She was already getting ideas on what to do, but that would have to wait until after she’d gotten proper measurements of the high priestess and her companions, if necessary. Arise did hope this wouldn’t take too long, however, since she still needed to finish the tunic in her workroom.

  Chapter 15

  Wenris slipped through the gates of Beacon without attracting a second glance, which pleased her. Well, that wasn’t true, she got plenty of second glances, but that was purely because she appeared to be an attractive dawn elf, and nothing more.