by Paul Yoder
A smile now on his face, Fin reached in one of the many pouches along his leather vest and pulled out a small looped chain of fine picks and curved, flat tools. Cycling through the chain, picking a thin flat-head wedge and a crooked, narrow spike, he inserted the two metal tools into the small lock above the handle.
Within seconds, a soft metallic click sounded and Fin pulled his tools out of the lock, swiftly putting them back in his pouch. Drawing a dagger from the back of his belt prompted Nomad to draw his curved-blade sword and the two entered as Fin swiftly opened the back door.
The backdoor had led them into a short hallway, with a doorway leading into an empty, well-kept bedroom to their left. Moving past the room after a short cursory glance, Fin crept past a closed door to their right and into what appeared to be the kitchen and sitting area just as Reza and the rest of the group came in the front door a room over in the living room.
Making eye contact with Reza, Fin held up his finger to his lips and went back to the closed door they had just passed.
Opening it, he looked down into the darkness and said, “A cellar. We’ll need a light down there, but I doubt we need to keep quiet. They already know we’re here by the footsteps on the floorboard if there is anyone down there, which I doubt there is.”
Closing the door to the cellar, Fin pointed back down the short hallway leading to the backdoor saying, “A bedroom back there. Place seems to be deserted.”
“A small guest room over here,” Cavok said, coming out of a room leading into the living room.
“Not the biggest place, but nice and quiet and out of the way. Who knows if we’re going to find many other places not savaged by whatever mayhem ran through this land. This army that invaded Brigganden sure is thorough, if nothing else,” Fin said, looking to Reza who was already headed to the backdoor, looking out the windowpane, not seeming too interested in Fin’s assessment.
Looking back to the group who waited in the living room, Fin turned back to Reza who opened the door and said over her shoulder, “This’ll do,” and took off out of the house, running past the backyard into the corral.
The group looked on in confusion as Reza frantically went from horse trough to horse trough, finding one that was cleaner than the rest, jumping in, undoing her armor and dunking her head all the way under.
“That’s what she was looking for,” Bede said with a smile. Remembering the soap and clean rags she had fished from the wrecked caravan, she pulled them out of her pack and headed over to Reza to hand them over.
“Look,” Fin said, pointing out into the field, spotting a group of horses galloping up to the trough where Reza bathed.
Reza resurfaced just as the group of five horses came trotting up to the trough, all poking their overjoyed, long snouts at the wet mop of hair that protruded out of their water trough.
Jerking as far back as she could in the tight trough, Reza let out a hiss of surprise at the sudden sight of the large animals inches away from her face.
While Reza looked back at the gawkers in the farmhouse, Fin and Cavok laughing hysterically at the predicament, one of the horses took advantage of the distraction and champed at her hair as the other horses brayed mischievously at the deed.
She swatted the large snout away, ready to rush back to the house even though she was nude, much more concerned with the overly frisky nippiness of the horses than being exposed in front of her comrades.
“Shoo! Shoo you naughty beasts!” Bede said, waving the group of horses momentarily off, giving Reza some space in her tub.
“Here you poor thing. Take the soap and a washrag and clean up. I’ll keep these jokers at bay—”
Bede cut off midsentence, looking back at Reza to find horrible red chafe marks all over Reza’s body where the dried worm gore had worked her skin raw throughout the long day of travel.
“Oh Reza, why didn’t you let me know your filthy armor was chafing you so badly! I’ll have to take a look at those sores once you’re all washed up. You’ll get infected if we don’t tend to them properly.”
“Bede—” Reza started to protest, but Bede shot her an uncompromising look that only a matron could give. Reza realizing it pointless to protest the point, took the soap and began untangling the massive knots of dried blood from her hair and rubbing off the gore caked to her face and body.
Seeing that Bede had contained the horses and that the fun was over, Fin and Cavok went back inside, with Nomad and Jadu following out of respect for Reza’s privacy.
Finding that the stove already held a large basin of water next to it, Fin exclaimed, “Looks like we’ll be having cooked rice and oats tonight—maybe even some flatbread.”
Jadu, quite famished with not having anything to eat since their worm meat breakfast that morning suggested, “Why don’t we start cooking the food now?”
Shaking his head to the suggestion, Fin answered, “Smoke is a lot easier to see during the day. We’d be giving away our location to anyone on duty even looking this direction from the city. We’ll start cooking well after sunset. Here’s some worm jerky though. Go look for spare blankets so we can drape them over the windows tonight. Being the only home with lights on inside will point us out like a sore thumb.”
Jadu caught the, what he believed to be, inedible worm jerky, and gave a long sigh at the prospect of being put to work on an empty stomach. Sulking off into the bedroom, the group could hear another heavy sigh as he opened chests and closets to find extra linen to drape over the windows.
Pulling out a candle and a striker, Fin lit the candle and opened the door leading down to the basement.
It took him a while, but Fin came back up to a resting Nomad and Cavok who were laying across the two padded benches in the room to announce that there wasn’t much in the basement that they could use, it being filled with mostly farm tools, animal hides, and other hunting gear.
“Well then what’s that?” Cavok asked, looking at the ceramic jug Fin had looped around one of his fingers.
Fin uncorked the jug and recoiled slightly.
“Lighter fluid is what we’re going to use it as I’m thinking. I doubt that’s what the previous owner had it down there for though.”
Fin placed the jug down by the stove, Cavok picking it up directly after, taking a sniff and a swig, then placing it back on the stove, letting out, with a cough, “Yeah. Lighter fluid.”
A mound of blankets atop a small praven’s legs entered the main room, the rest of the men turning their attention to the silly little moving bundle of comforters. Dropping the pile of blankets, Jadu flopped onto the large mound, looking exhausted from the poor sleep and long morning they had.
Just as Jadu let out a sigh on his mountain of fabric, Bede hurriedly came in from the backdoor and snatched one of the blankets Jadu was laying on top of, toppling the little praven off the pile onto the ground
“Sorry, Jadu!” Bede apologized, rushing back out the door leaving Jadu on his back on the floor like a flipped-over tortoise, not sure what had just happened.
Bede went to cover up Reza. Wrapping her up, Bede ushered Reza inside, assuring her as she eyed her gear that she would clean and dry her clothes for her once she was in and mended.
Taking a step up the back porch caused Reza to let out a low hiss of pain. Pausing a moment, she stepped up the second step to enter through the back door.
“What’s the matter? Does the chafing hurt that badly?” Bede asked, looking down to the leg Reza was favoring while they headed down the hallway.
With Reza and Bede’s entry into the little cabin, the men looked up to see their dripping-wet comrade, obliviously letting slip her barely covering blanket down past areas that made Nomad and Fin blush, Cavok smile wide, and Jadu look on in confusion as to why he had been flopped on the hard wooden floor.
“No, the chafing’s nothing,” Reza got out as Bede fell over herself to try and cover up Reza with the small blanket that was mostly wrapped around her.
“
I was crushed by a worm last night during the battle. It might be more serious than I had thought. It’s been getting worse all day.”
Leading Reza into the master bedroom, to Cavok’s disappointment, Bede shut the door and sat Reza on the bed, unpacking an assortment of medical supplies from her satchels she wore.
Gently handling Reza’s leg, Bede lifted up the injured limb and slowly turned it from left to right, slightly rotating it until she saw Reza flinch.
“Does it hurt when I twist or turn it?” Bede asked.
Reza was silent for a few moments but then reluctantly admitted, “Both.”
Resting her leg back against the bed again, Bede pulled out a talisman. Reza knew it to be the symbol of Bede’s faith.
“Your knee is inflamed, and it seems deep bruising and perhaps even some fracturing is at the route of your pain. This isn’t going to go away anytime soon. You might have pushed through it today, but your body is going to make you pay for that course of action tonight and tomorrow. You can’t continue like this,” Bede said, holding her talisman cupped in her hands.
“We can’t stay here for days or weeks waiting for my knee to get better. I’ll have to go on regardless of the pain,” Reza said, stubbornly refusing the verdict Bede had given her.
“Settle down,” Bede said in a motherly tone, holding Reza by the arms as Reza started to get up off the bed.
“Not only would you likely run your leg into infection and likely amputation, it’s not necessary. I can heal the wound. Elendium has been close today. I feel a faith healing to be the answer to our dilemma if you would allow me to pray over the wound.”
Reza knew more about Bede’s god Elendium than any of the other deities besides her own goddess, Sareth. Often, the followers of Sareth and the high priests of the followers of Elendium worked together in various capacities, giving Reza and Bede a unique insight into each other’s faiths. Though Reza wasn’t overly fond of Elendium, Bede had high regard for Sareth.
Looking down, Reza mumbled loud enough for Bede to hear, “A god that only heals when convenient for him does not seem like a god of compassion.”
Bede shook her head and replied with a genuine smile, “Elendium has his timeline. True, Sareth allows access to her divine powers to her followers at all times, but in my experience, some things are better reserved and used sparingly. All the brighter is the answer to prayer when Elendium himself answers a call, deeming the follower, and cause, a worthy one.”
Reza was about to reply, but decided not to get into debating over religion just then, knowing that though she disagreed of the disconnected and limited support Elendium gave to his followers, power was occasionally with his priests and priestesses. Bede had divinely healed her wounds in the past, and it was usually when Reza herself had been in better terms with Elendium.
Reza sighed and said, “Well, if he is with us today, then I welcome the aid. I will pray with you.”
Bede smiled, seeing that the more agreeable side of Reza had given in and was now willing to ask for healing and health from her god.
Holding Reza’s hands in hers, Bede clutched with Reza the talisman of Elendium, focusing on the holy figure, both meditating for a minute to clear their minds before beginning the prayer.
Bede parted her lips and began to utter a prayer.
“Elendium. Unworthy in many ways though we are, we come to thee in supplication, seeking both healing and safety on the road ahead.
“Reza, a dear daughter of Sareth, the high-queen Eleemosynary to our realm, is in need. Injured in battle, her injuries now require quick mending.
“There is a great evil very close to the place we now reside. An evil that we must not linger long near. An evil that must be driven hence without delay. For this reason we call upon thy divine powers of healing. Please mend both bone, blood, and sinew and recover Reza’s body and spirit. Provide peace and clairvoyance to her that she may lead us along the holy path.
“Great is thy name and eternal is they throne in the heavens above. Amen.”
With the prayer ended, Reza opened her eyes, inspecting her body, testing her still hurt leg.
“Do you think he wasn’t listening to your prayer? My injury is still there,” Reza said, reverently as she could, seeing that Bede was still meditating with eyes closed.
Bede seemed not to hear Reza’s question, remaining still for some time.
Reza rested her heavy hands on the bed. She wanted to lay back on it, being completely exhausted from the rough last leg of their journey, but refrained from doing so out of respect for Bede. Letting out a sigh, she looked down at her swollen knee. It had only gotten bigger and more painful since she had taken her tautly-cinched armor off.
Though she herself had the capacity to mend wounds, she had not spent the necessary study and practice to master her natural skill of healing. She only used her talent in times of great need, and rarely on herself at that. She was now much regretting her choice to neglect that area of study during her stay at the Jeenyre monastery.
She was thinking of if she’d make good on her original intentions of pressing forward regardless of the wound, or stay and rest, when Bede raised her hand and uttered words that Reza was not familiar with.
A soothing feeling lightly touched down in the center of her chest and then spread outwards to the tips of her limbs. Her flesh and bone seemed to respond to the feeling, and she could see her abrasions were healing over right before her eyes.
Something in her knee began to shift and squeeze, and she could feel that under the pressure, her knee’s inflamed state began to reduce, the pain slowly leaving.
After a pause of surprise, Reza whispered, “Wow, Bede. You’ve healed me by a prayer of faith before, but never like this. I think my leg and chafing are completely healed up. Seems like Elendium had both ears open to hear your prayer today.”
Bede opened her eyes, looking to Reza, seeming to wake up from a lapse of consciousness. Her expression turned to one of jubilant surprise when she saw that Reza’s injury, along with her bad chafing, had vanished.
“What’s that light?” Reza asked, opening up Bede’s hand that held her talisman to find that it now took on a pearlescent glow about it, lighting up half of the room.
“Oh my god!” Bede let out, seeing her lit talisman for the first time.
Breaking the silence, not sure what the omen meant, Reza shifted in her blanket and asked, “Bede, what’s it mean? It’s never done that before, right?”
“Never,” Bede started, looking for words to form the next part of her sentence, slowly getting it out.
“And it shouldn’t be shining now. But it is. This sign is reserved for a high position in my church, not a simple cleric like myself.”
Now more interested than worried, Reza gently shook Bede’s arm and asked, “Bede, what position in the church is this sign meant for, and what does it mean?”
Bede looked up to meet Reza’s eyes and whispered an answer in disbelief.
“Only special followers of Elendium are gifted with his personal seal, the illuminating of a talisman. Very few ever attain this position even through a lifetime of service. That sign is reserved only for saints, the regional representatives of Elendium himself. To attain sainthood is to assure a place in Elendium’s favor—forever.”
14
Deliberations of Sainthood
Reza now understood the reason for Bede’s incredulity. She knew enough about Bede’s faith to know that saints were very high up in the faith’s hierarchy. Though the cardinals oversaw most of the quotidian functions and operations of the church on a regional level, the saints were the churches stationary figures, being seen as regional representatives of Elendium, with only the high priests and prophet being above them in authority.
Bede and Reza sat there, their gaze fixed mesmerizingly to the small, circular talisman etched with symbols of stars, moon phases, and the sun.
“Word from a saint is to be taken
as the direct word and will of Elendium himself. He chose me to be one of his select handmaidens in this realm,” Bede whispered wistfully.
Reza seemed to mull over the information for a moment before breaking the silence.
“Is it often for lower ranking clergy to be chosen and called to sainthood?”
“Not usually these days, no. In the past, it wasn’t so uncommon, but these last two centuries, often there is a direct progression through the ranks without any skipping of positions. It seems more curated these days than those in the records. Rarely are women, and even more rare are field clerics like myself, to be called to such a position,” Bede answered, stringing the chained talisman back over her neck.
“So Bede, what you’re telling me is that in your church, you just became the leading authority over this region?” Reza asked.
“It appears so—but—I don’t know. It would be unprecedented in the church today as far as I know,” Bede said, obviously still confused herself with what the glowing symbol meant for her standing in the church, eyebrows raised, eyes still locked onto the glowing talisman.
Standing up, Reza took the blanket that was wrapped around her and started drying her hair with it, continuing to ask Bede questions as they came to her.
“What’s the procedure for new saints? Do you need to report to your order immediately? How will this affect our current mission?”
Bede looked up from the talisman long enough to notice Reza still patting her hair dry with the small blanket.
Getting up, Bede remarked, “Oh you poor thing. I was completely thinking of myself this whole time while you’ve been wet and naked. Here, I’ll be right back with your clothes. With any luck, that dry desert heat will have already dried your undergarments.”
Bede left the room and was back with Reza’s sunbaked undergarments within a minute, handing Reza her clothes.
Putting them on, Reza asked the question to Bede again about when she would need to ship out to report to her order about the new spiritual development.
Bede answered without hesitation, having had time to think over the question while retrieving Reza’s garb.
