Her yell hit me in the chest with the strength of a hammer and I was thrown back, trying to keep my balance. And when I straightened, I saw the pitcher in the hands of Afrosio, and the remains of the moaning Spruce. I looked up at the divinely beautiful and evil snake goddess and casually said:
“I’ll do it.”
At my feet lay several spheres filled to the top with raging flames. The crystallized fury of god… my first award for this work. A very rich reward…
“Iwawa doesn’t like me… and not my brother either,” the eyes of Snessa flashed. “Our feud is long standing. We were friends once, but not anymore. You have nothing to do with her, right?”
“I don’t know her,” I assured, quietly leaning down and picking up the glowing spheres. Good. Recently I’ve spent a lot…
“Good… she is very resentful. She won’t come to my aid, won’t help my children— the bog creatures. But she won’t interfere with you. I know her character. She sleeps very soundly. Just as lazy as her little girl! She might as well sleep another century. But if I kill the pike she will know it. If you do it, she will still know it— but she will know you did it for a good cause. The pike is a terror to the town… killing fishermen, tearing their nets.”
“I see. I understand,” I nodded. “If the goddess isn’t going to interfere…”
“She is sleeping! She doesn’t know anything about the pike, nor about her silly daughter Spruce. She is sleeping now for many years and will continue to do so, thanks to the sweet sounds of the harp Semiurg, whose strings sing under the skilled fingers of Torduard. If she wakes— she will understand. And if now, I will protect you. And even Spruce wouldn’t lie to her mother— I’ll go right ahead and tell her all she did then!”
This was nothing new about Iwawa… everyone knows that there is an island on a lake where rustle the branches of a huge old willow. Everyone knows that, under that tree, sits a gray-haired bard, softly singing lullabies. And everyone knows that anyone who lives in that town is immortal— as well as the players while they are in city limits.
“Thank you,” I bowed my head. “I will do it, Snessa.”
“May it be so! I, the goddess Snessa, entrust this matter to you, Rosgard!” Said the goddess, and then her body shattered into hundreds and hundreds of individual reptiles and collapsed into the waters of Naykal. “Spruce will answer all your questions!”
Attention! Unique Job!
You got the job “Prayers for the Glory of Snessa!”
Make it so that the bog creatures of Naykal return to the abandoned shrines and return to their sacred rituals.
Minimum conditions:
Have the bog creatures return to their sanctuaries and continue their rituals.
Experience: ???
ATTENTION!
You have accepted a task from a deity!
The religion status of your character is broken! Recover status: Impossible! New status: One who believes in gods!
ATTENTION!
Result of job has a direct relationship to status of faith!
Remember! It is not always wise to interfere with the affairs of the gods. Sometimes it can result in dire consequences! Remember to be careful!
Slowly, with a quiet crunch, Spruce regenerated. The eyes returned to the body.
Hmm… what if I ran and caught the others in a jar before they returned to the host? And I would close the jar… what then? I would imagine nothing good. I wouldn’t have walked far carrying it…
It is better to stop asking such questions and think of the matter at hand.
Until now Snessa had given me a job under the guise of an ordinary travelling fortune teller. I didn’t communicate with her rue form then. Now the visual and verbal veils were broken. She had asked me directly, and I had agreed with her and taken the job. Thus, I had recognized the existence of the gods and expressed my faith in them. Thus I had lost the status of Atheist, with which all characters are born.
The recent warning about faith had been clear. Just the gaming system reminding me that we should not make enemies with the deities. Many risk-loving players, by the way, have rejected such jobs— to terrible consequences.
And I wasn’t worried about compensation.
The task itself pleased me with its neutrality. She didn’t mention the fish in the slightest. All that needed to happen was for the bog creatures to go back to their sacred rituals. Clear and concise.
And I knew just how to read between the lines.
Therefore, without delaying long, I squatted down next to the nearly recovered Spruce and clearly said:
“It’s time to tell me, Spruce. Tell me what happened…”
“I’m not guilty,” pouted the shattered face of willow bark. “She started it…”
“Of course,” I nodded. “Of course. Here’s some water…”
I spilled the remnants of the jar on the willow sister, and looked over to the drunkard.
Wait… what is it that he is hiding in his pocket?
It was a small bag of blue silk and yellow embroidery. The same one that was attached to my pants… Thief! He stole my purse! Incidentally, the money in there is a trifle— just a couple of gold coins and a couple of silver. But for the poor drunkard, this was a pot of gold.
The servant who saw my silent gestures understood and stood up, and made his way over to the drunk. And when the loudly hiccupping Afrosio began to try and run, the servant went after him. Now, I didn’t have to worry that he would disappear…
“Alright…” Spruce said, and began to tell the story— at first reluctantly, and then more vividly.
I saw a vivid picture of what happened.
The main problem, as expected, proved to be the fisherman.
One wonderful hazy afternoon— of which there were many on the lake Naykal— the fisherman was in his rickety boat, making a mysterious monogram on the surface of the water. He made his way to a series of islands known as Spine Ruff. These islands were then divided by the goddesses Iwawa and Snessa.
The sanctuary of Snessa was on the rocky islands, where clumsy figurines carved of bone and stone were gathered. They were mostly images of snakes and fish. Hundreds of dibilids lived in the pools. Only bog creatures went there, danced, devoured freshly caught fish, threw dirt at each other and drunkenly laughed, beating drums and tambourines, circling around the priestesses, and even showing their naked behind to the neighboring islands— those where the sanctuary of Iwawa was located.
The sanctuary of Iwawa was visited by humans, elves, half orcs, dwarves and achilots. Iwawa was the very embodiment of compassion and healing. Many in Valdira worshipped her. The sanctuary islands were overgrown with weeping willows and sacred trees. There was a healing spring, granting powers of regeneration. There were gifts left by the priestesses. Prayers were read in a whisper, there was no music, no bare behinds shown.
And on one of these islands, the fisherman Ambrosio arrived. He docked his boat. Somehow got up. Ignoring the train, he went through the dense willow thickets and fell to his knees, washed from the holy spring, rinsed his mouth, spat back, and then hit his forehead on a rock and fell silent for a long time— about two hours. When he raised his face again, he cried aloud to Iwawa— save me from addiction to intoxicating wine! Praying for a few minutes, he took a large jar from his belt, scattered ritual objects everywhere, went to the boat, and returned with a piece of old fishing net. He fished in the stream. There, besides the usual minnows, were young temple pikes— very young, but future temple warriors. All of them were caught by the fisherman Afrosio. After that, he left, leaving behind a ruined sanctuary…
Spruce was absent then— she was at the wedding of one of her girlfriends. She returned the next morning, horrified, and began to work.
She couldn’t identify the destroyer right away. But when she found him, everything came to a standstill.
The drunken and reckless fisherman sent her to hell. The sea was up to his knee, the Naykal up to his ankle. The sacred fish were ta
dpoles to him and nothing more.
Spruce tried again to appeal to the conscience of the insolent man, but he didn’t listen. She tried again. And was again denied. She tried again. And the same thing happened. And then her patience ran out, and she made a terrible mistake.
Spruce gave an order to one of her adult pikes— to “follow Afrosio wherever you can.” To scare him, torture him, afflict him, terrorize him— to tip his boat, to prevent him from fishing. To find out anything it could. The temple pike who took the order, named Zubrava, began to act instantly.
That’s when Spruce discovered that Afrosio was one of those fishermen who preferred not to catch fish but to drink until he was blacked out. And he went out to fish very rarely— when he ran out of money, and had nothing to drink with. Therefore, the bullying of the pike was rare— though it did cause Ambrosio quite a fright, causing him to complain to the other villagers.
And so it went on… until a certain point, which was a black day in the calendar of the willow sister.
Once she returned from another “business trip” involving the birthing of an incredibly huge monster in the ocean— she didn’t want to help, but the achilots had pleaded with her— she came home to discover something horrifying. The temple was destroyed and Zubrava had changed very much in a very short time! It had grown more than three times, and grown its teeth. Its eyes were bloodshot and dark. It had become aggressive. And without hesitation, Zubrava attacked Spruce! And the willow sister, because of her kindness, couldn’t hit back…
The pike, now turned into a huge monster, had forgotten everything and everyone. All except for the order to hunt down Afrosio… and it did so with particular fury, because the baby pikes that Afros had caught from the lake were children of Zubrava. And the order was not to kill him, but to scare him. The mind of the pike was torn to pieces. Zubrava continued to change and grow in size. And at the end of the day, Spruce was terrified— what if the pike tasted human blood? Who knows what the fate of fishermen would be.
Oh yes! And by the way, the pike did kill bog-creatures. Very cruelly. There was only another step to go before humans. In any case, the bog creatures preferred to sit on the beach— there, too, they could have a drink, and snack on fish for helping out the fishermen. What a life…
What happened in the days Spruce was away from Naykal?
What happened to Zubrava?
Spruce asked me these questions sadly, and I didn’t answer, though I knew the answer, even a partial one. The pike had eaten a part of the legendary armor.
But why did the glove have such an effect? I had not seen anything evil in the legendary armor until now.
I was thinking about all this on the go, hurrying down to the village. Behind my back the column sank back into the water, taking the willow sister with it. I wondered why she hadn’t given me a task. But why should I be greedy? I have all this to deal with now…
Chapter Seven
The monster on the banks! The monster in the water!
“Where?” I asked the servant a single question.
“Please follow me, sir,” he nodded, and led me down a narrow lane, which was sandwiched between two fences.
We walked this way for about three minutes, and then found ourselves in a clearing, marked by two young oaks. Under one of the oaks lay the snoring afros, hugging a small wine barrel. Everywhere were scattered broken jars, bottles, and cracked cups. There were traces of a small fire. On the ridges of the bark were several candle stubs. The den of an alcoholic…
“I can wake him quickly,” carefully observed the servant. “But there will be no special delight from this method, sir.”
“Fie on his comfort!” I firmly said. “Wake him.”
The bastard will tell me everything!
“With great pleasure,” the servant told me, taking my blue and yellow bag out of his hand. “I’ll wake him right now…”
“A-a-a-ah!” A wild cry swept over the roofs of houses. “Lo-oo-ook!”
“What is that thing?!”
“Climbing out of the water!”
“Protect us! The bright gods!”
“Get your guns! All weapons!”
The brass bell hanging in the square rang in alarm.
“Good lord goodness gracious!” Yelled a voice of a player, not a local. “What the hell is it?!”
“Ru-u-u-un!”
“Save the children!”
A deafening crack of wood.
“Sir, your crew is ready for departure,” said a servant evenly. “The mayor is waiting for…”
“No way! We’re gonna kill that monster!” I said firmly. “Can you lift him?”
“The drunkard and thief? I’m able to.”
“Grab him and follow me!”
Ba-a-ahm!
Women crying! Wailing children! Debris whistling in the air!
Trouble had come to the small village… terrible trouble, legendary trouble… unless of course I was mistaken…
With the servant carrying the unconscious Afros following me, I ran away from the source of the screams in the opposite direction— what else was there to do? We ran down the narrow path. The fences are not that high, but there are private areas beyond them, and to cross into them was taboo. And the unknown creature wasn’t slowing down.
Fortunately, the passage didn’t last for long, and soon brought us to an open clearing, where my horse-drawn carriage was already waiting.
“We can leave quickly, sir,” again repeated the servant, not even having to catch his breath after lugging the body of the fisherman on his shoulder. “The horses are hell rested— one spur, and we are safe. And the guards can stay and distract it.”
“No,” I shook my head. “Put Afros in the cart. Watch out for him! So that he doesn’t escape… make sure he stays.”
“The local guards ask for your help!” A hefty local guard appeared by my shoulder, armed with equally hefty weapons. Evil, dark, collected and compressed like a fighting mechanism on a spring. Tenacious eyes waiting for an answer.
Damn it…! How did you get here so quickly? Ruining all my plans!
“We can help!” I snapped, and another guard rushed towards me— but I stopped him quickly. “Wait!”
“Time is running out, stranger! Do you wish to help? Or not?”
“I am dying to help! I will take away the creature from your town! Right now!” Saying such “loud” words and promises, I realized I was putting my reputation at risk. If I had a mistake with the plan that had just emerged in my mind, I know that the town would think much less of me— it would look as though I had just lied and escaped.
“How?!” The guards said in surprise, hearing such a posh promise. “Well, I guess it does not matter. Just make it go! Now!”
How well they made decisions…
“Okay!” I shouted, already leaping into the carriage. “The creature will follow us! We are not running away, guard! Remember! We are not running away! We are getting rid of it for you! The creature! As fast as possible!”
“To shore!” The driver flicked his whip, and the four horses started to run. I could barely stand on my feet from the lurch forward, clutching to the side of the carriage and peering towards Naykal.
The cart flew to shore, where it stopped on my command. It took a few seconds to appraise the whole scene.
Fishing villages are all the same. The houses behind almost on the shore… they are separated only by a narrow strip of land, where there are still a few huts and overturned boats. There is a spacious beach, but you can’t turn on it. If you are a normal and friendly creature… but if you are an unknown hostile one, you can turn, and demolish all of the tents, boats, and nets.
And it was precisely a network of strong fishing nets which now kept back the huge creature from the village. It looked like an assault tank was trying to come through them. Through the nets flashed strange different appendages— impossibly sharp fins, ridges… you couldn’t tell…
Among the dirty tattered nets fla
shed big black eyes, filled with a deep scarlet glow. I was taken aback at how strong the hatred in the blazing eye appeared.
There was a line of defense in front of the creature— a hodgepodge of fishermen, guards, and players. There was a commander guard, a massive man with a spear and a shield, giving orders and indicating where everyone should stand. Got it. So they had decided to fight the monster, to give it a battle here and now— just look at the first row of fishermen holding harpoons. But for some reason it didn’t look like it would hold… and far away in the other direction, on the country road, several carts were moving away from the village. The first cowards… and the bog creatures. The whole crowd of them! They broke the record, making their way back to the nearest swamp.
With the breaking sound of wood and clanking of chains, the village well scattered— out of the pit a thick pole of vegetation emerged. It animated and crashed into the ground, running around the village in a protective wall. Behind the soldiers preparing to fight the Willow Sisters appears, calling chants. The defenders were covered with an iridescent aura. The wall sprouted thorns, and appeared like a giant crown surrounding the town.
The monstrous pike— it this was it— had not yet dealt a blow, nor had it been hit. But it was just beginning. The fight was about to start…
“You!” Yelled the commander. “Over here! Occupy the positions!”
Having nothing to say, I jumped to the ground, picked up an ordinary stone, climbed back and told the faithful servant:
“When I throw the stone, lift Afrosio!”
“Yes sir!”
The Way of the Clan 6: World of Valdira Page 24
