by Sam Sea
No children here, she thought as the sword she used to chop his head off was already being cleaned of a few drops of blood still left on its mirror-glowing blade..
All four of them stared in horror at her. “You get that blood over you because you… decided to underestimate me. You think I need your help?” She said coldly to Les who was trying to wipe out blood from his face, but in a way she was pleased he stepped out for her.
“But he was a champion…” the priest uttered in outmost disbelief.
“Well, he is a dead champion now.” Mikka cold eyes examined the priest who tried hard to hide his shock.
“I still didn’t see it… I still didn’t see anything!” Les said all disappointed as he turned around, looking for others for help in explaining it. “Did you see it? Did you actually see how she did it?” He asked, but nobody seemed interested in answering him.
Mikka quietly looked at each of them. Nobody dared to move, and the silence hang in the air for a long moment.
“Well, four of you…” The priest’s voice suddenly brought everyone back. “Yes, the four of you…it will be then the four…”
Mikka raised her hand signaling him to stop mumbling.
“Shut up, priest. You do not know what to say. You are just stalling time… I can tell that much. So just answer my questions or else your head will be the next one to roll. I did my job. I want my reward. For the last time, do you have it or not?”
“Yes… Of course we do, but…”
“Then give it to me… It’s that simple, no? ”
“But if you don’t do this, millions will perish…”
“Do you have it?”
“Yes, but. But you understand, if we do nothing…”
“How is that any problem of mine?”
The priest took half of step back and a giant dumpling seemed to have come down his throat. “We can pay…Of course, we can… gold I guess…”
“What gold, I didn’t do this for the gold! I’ve already told your priests about that when they placed two bags of it to my feet!” Mikka’s anger shook the windows harder than the giant’s voice ever did. “You have no idea of what is going on here, do you?” her sword was already half way out of its scabbard.
“You do not know do you?” Mikka took a few steps toward him, seeing it all clearly in the priest’s face. The dead silence hanged in the anticipation of another head being rolled down. “You do not know what my compensation was… And you said you are not a liar…” Her words knocked his eyes down to the floor, and he seemed as ashamed as a little child.
“It seems no matter what I do…” the voice came from behind Mikka and everyone turned around to see a small, old man who miraculously appeared sitting in the window. “I just can’t help you in changing your greedy. murderous ways, now can I?” He said with the queer smile lurking on his face. “What will I have to do to save your soul??”
It was time for Mikka to be shocked. The old man was older than she remembered him. Twenty years older, exactly.
“Master Derran??” Mikka said confused, not fully ready to believe her eyes.
Chapter 12 – The Grand Master
An hour ago, Les was all alone with the Grand Master in his room.
“I’ve been watching you for a long time, Les of Skinesville. I’ve seen you do things that… have intrigued me.”
“Your clan put a price on your head, it wants you dead, I think you know that?”
“What do you want from me?”
But the priest was not ready to answer his questions. “I know you were contracted to steal the castle’s blueprints from Sirnia, and I know why…”
“You have knowledge of… you know of things that we need…”
“What is it that I know? It seems you know more than me, priest?”
“Oh, that is not quite true… It is not only
The word contract sounded really good to Les at the moment, and he breathed a whole lot better after knowing he would not be tortured again. He even started to feel relaxed.
It all seemed not to have escaped the priest’s attention.
“Of course we would contract you out. Why would we rescue you and then torture you and kill you? If we wanted you in pain and without life, we would have just left you where you were…”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“Oh, it is a little bit more complex than that.”
“Tell me priest, don’t waste your time, why do you want me…?”
“We want the man who ordered you go and steal the plans, the man who ordered an assassin to kill you before you reveal why you were sent there in the first place. We want the man who put a price on your head now.”
“Master Urko?”
“Yes… We want him, here. He has a lot of questions to answer. There are a lot of secrets that needs to be cleared and if half of what we found out is true, the time might be running out.”
Les thought about sharing his secret with him, but something in the presence of the old man just made him be very quiet and cautious. Maybe it was his eyes, constantly examining him, questioning each word he said. Maybe it was the presence of a long white robe. The priest’s god and the one that Les had were not the same, and the rich white robe seemed reminding him that not all priests were same.
“He will never talk.” He just said it in the end.
“Yeah, just like you… You are not talking to me either, right?” The priest smiled at him, laughing silently. “It’s not what you ask, but how you ask that matters the most. You may not see it as such, but your journey a young priest of Bo’Ra has only started and you have so much to learn…”
“I am not Bo’Ra priest…”
“Oh, but you are… The heavens have spoken clearly, and your prayers for eternal salvation has been granted.”
Les’s surprise was still gripping his face as the slow and deep voice of the priest continued to roll off his lips. “You seem to be in a lot of pain, my poor boy… Let me help you. Let me take you where there is no pain, to the place where nothing can hurt you, to a safe place where you will only feel the warmth of the god, warmth of his…
Les started to feel the heat radiate through the priests words,
“Close your eyes, and let me take you there… Your prayers have been answered, so take a deep breath, and hold it just for a moment. When you let go, all that is inside of you will leave with it. You can close your eyes, and take another deep breath… Your mind is now…
A meadow…Les whispered.
“Do you see the light on that meadow, it is there… warm and peaceful, tranquil breeze that shows you love of god in this world, the love of creator, let him in, let the light of god into your meadow, into your mind…”
Mikka slowly walked over to the old priest, and stood but an inch from his face. She examined his eyes for a long moment before she said. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I do not need to explain myself to you.” The words were cold, without any emotions in it, but the response only carved a small, ironic smile on Mikka’s face.
“I’m not a little girl anymore…”
“I can see that… Well you did for yourself…” But then the tension in the old man’s eyes eased and he continued in a whisper. “We’ll talk later, and not now…”
“If that is how you want it…” she said it after a while of staring each other. “So you were the one who brought me here? You were the one who contracted me?”
“Yes… I asked specifically for you. Priests told me that you complained about your compensation…” the priest took out a small, perfectly polished wooden box and turned it over to Mikka. “You will see that it is all there, as promised.”
Mikka opened the box just so slightly, but the light that started to escape the box was enough for her to close it down swiftly and moved the box to the inside of her coat. Whatever it was seemed to have appeased her greatly as she instantly relaxed and nodded her head.
“Well, good that you could respect
even that…” she said with a smirk of a smile still not leaving her face.
“But I have another job for you.” The priest said swiftly as Mikka started to pull away.
“Not interested.”
“I’d pay you well…”
“You’ve already paid me… well.” Then she let out a small, mocking laugh. “Seems you are doing very well for yourself. It seems you have all the money in the world now. Can’t hardly blame you for coming here then.”
“I’ll pay you whatever you want… You name your price.”
“I’m busy doing something else. I actually didn’t come here just for your job.”
“Another contract?”
“No, something personal… But then, that is none of your business…”
“Where are you going next?” the old priest would not give up, tailing after Mikka who was already showing herself out.
“None of your business…”
“Maybe I can help… get you there faster?”
Mikka turned around swiftly and got into priest’s face again. But this time, the smile was gone and the anger raged in her words. “Listen to me, Derran, I do not know what games you’re playing here, and I do not care! You do not want to explain yourself to me? So don’t! Just stay away from me!”
“I’ll give you all the explanations before this is over, if that’s what you want. I promise. But please, help me first.”
“You want my help? You need my help? Great, all-powerful Derran needs my help?”
The old priest waited for a second, but before Mikka turned around and stormed out of the room, he calmly admitted. “Yes… Yes, I do. Please.”
“Fine… I need to get to the Three Rivers as fast as I can.”
“Good… This will be on our way there.”
Mikka waited and examined him again, not fully knowing what to make of it all.
““Well, I may do it for a favor…”
“What favor?”
But Mikka was not fast with words, moving around slowly, like a kitty, thinking for a long moment before she finally decided to say. “That is mine to ask when the time comes. Unconditional favor. If you agree, then I’ll help you with whatever you have.”
“You expect me to promise you a favor without knowing which one it is?”
“I’ll accept the job without knowing what kind it is.” Mikka’s mocking smile returned to her face. “It’s fair.”
The old priest let go of his breath, but then extended his hand and said, “Then it is agreed.”
“It seems you have become one very desperate old man.” Mikka mocked him. “These ten years seemed not to have been very kind on you. Before, you were a god who had all the power in the universe, and now… And now, you seem nothing more than a broken old man.”
He just nodded his head, and answered without meeting her eyes. “You have no idea.”
They left the monastery within hours of their gathering, with twenty guards and priests in their party, and with two cars with enough supplies to last them a month.
As the last of the riders of Mikka’s group had cleared through the gate, the high priest watched them depart from the tower above. “She is a she-devil, for sure… They were right to ask for her death.”
“She may ruin all our plans.”
“She should have died already.”
"But you saw how she chopped the head of Cartar... What did you want us to do? If she is so fast and so strong, we certainly have to try and kill her differently."
"Maybe you are right. Maybe we can offer some kind of incentive for whoever takes her life?"
"I have already taken some steps in that direction… Although it does not hurt to have few backup plans."
"Yes, you've got another good point there... But how do we do it then?"
"Let me handle it... Maybe there is a better way, a way that she would never suspect us being involved."
"Yes, that would make sense..."
"But why...why would you need to kill her?"
"You asked me that before. Don’t do it again! I have my own reasons..."
The anger high priest felt soon disappeared and he continued in his unexciting, cold voice “Wait for them to disappear, then send a message to our friends. Tell them that they are coming. We will make sure that the Grand Master and the she-devil will get a proper welcome as they come.”
“The Grand Master took with him almost all the ravens. We have but a few with us.”
“One should do… If they are warned of their coming, they will get them such a warm welcoming that we may never have to worry about them.”
“But what if they fail?”
The other priest didn’t stop staring at the column of riders slowly becoming smaller and smaller.
“What do you want to do then?”
“There is one of the very good possibility that…” the priest seemed reluctant to continue.
“Anything I need to know about…? Anything I can help with?”
“No, I think you have already done your share. I will have to go to Three Rivers myself and make sure that our men there follow our command once it is known that the grand master had died. I have also talked to father Tonic…
“Yes…”
“I persuaded him to talk to the assassin who was here…”
“To the wounded one?”
“Yes… In case any of them remain alive, he was offered a chance to save his mortal sinful soul by finishing those that his brothers cannot.
“So, he take on the job of killing the master and the she-devil?” the priest was surprised.
“Of course he did… Those assassins.. There is nothing they would not do for a right price.”
“I could swear on my mortal soul that he was in love with the woman.”
“No… he’ll betray her all right. That just shows you how you cannot trust anyone who takes money to take human lives…”
Chapter 12 - The Quest
After riding hard for many long hours, the Grand Master asked for a break next to a stream with enough clear and cold water to refresh their horses and give them needed rest. The day was almost completely spent.
Mikka distanced herself from the group and set next to the willow tree, and Les used an opportunity to walk over to her and talk.
"You and Grand Master, you two know each other, don’t you?"
"You always ask so many questions? Why? Why do you think you have a right to know? Explain yourself?” She seemed very upset, and he could not guess the reason. “Didn't I save your life? If that was not enough, just let me know." Her edginess was not mellowing, not really ready to talk at all.
"I'm just curious, I guess… That's all."
"You don't trust your eyes, you don't trust your ears, your brain... Why you are still alive doing the job you are doing goes beyond me. That is what you should be curious about..."
"You've been in a bad mood ever since we left the monastery..."
"No, I am in a bad mood ever since I took this job… It is wrong on so many levels.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
"Care to share your worries with me?
"No..."
"It seems the things are not going as you planned… Could it be that you resent being manipulated?"
"Must be... I feel like my whole life I’m nothing more than a poppet. Do you like being manipulated?"
Les stopped to think about it for a second. "I don't think about it that way... They have their plans, and I have my own. Currently they coincide, you know... So why fight that?"
"Your wisdom is... so unexpected and... wise" Mikka could not find the better word, but the mocking tone in her voice did not go unnoticed by Les. Except, it made him smile like it always does.
"Make fun of me all you want. As long as I can hear that lovely voice of yours talk to me, I do not care what you say."
The mellowness of his voice which did not change regardless of how tough she talked to him soften her stance. “you know that you have
not been cured. And that this will probably cost you your life… Maybe you should worry about that rather than trying to get into my thoughts," she tried to warn him. “Whatever he told you is probably a lie. He is a great liar, you know…”
“Probably you are right… But still I do not care.”
“Maybe you should... Maybe that way you would like longer."
"Ahh... we all are going to die, one way or another. I lived all my life with nothing to show for. Maybe this I do now, even if it is the end, maybe that will give my life a purpose…. Besides, who would want to live forever?"
It was Mikka's turn to chuckle for more reasons than Les could guess.
When their rest was over and many of the riders were already on their horses ready to continue, Mikka walked over to the old priest who was petting his animal as he let it away from the stream.
"Wait..." Mikka called after him. He stopped and turned around "For a second, I was going to call you Master."
"I’m not your master, haven't been your master for a long time now."
"Yeah I know, and I wanted to ask you something about that..."
"I have no desire to answer any of your questions now."
"Fine..."
"Finish this job, do it right, and then maybe we will talk."
"No, I don't believe you. I think I would like to talk to you right now."
"I don't think so." Derran said and started to turn around.
Mikka grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe, but instead of holding a sleeve the sudden fog exploded. She waved her hands to clear it off, and in a few seconds she could see no traces of her old master anywhere. The horses got nervous and people stared around not knowing what had just happened.
Mikka let go of a long breath and as she saddled up, she could see Derran already riding away.
“We better make haste now. We’ll talk later.” She could hear his voice answering in the distance.
Mikka was surprised how far and fast they traveled on their horses. The first day, they already had covered two hundred miles to the river, and then they got on a barge that traveled slowly downstream in a moonlit night.
