Chapter 44

For all the temple where Beog was supposed to have placed his foot was neglected and reckoned small by those few Orcs who knew of it, however, small is a matter of scale. The temple was only small compared to other temples. On Earth, it would have been thought of as cathedral sized. A grossly ugly cathedral at that with the usual Orc ability to mismatch building styles in putting together a utilitarian whole.

Other than about ten priests who went through some form of daily ritual, there were still a hundred guards to deal with, though no one, including the Seers, had any idea why the Orcs chose to have guard contingents at their temples, the hordes being conditioned against attacking them.

‘Riot has started, ‘ Valon sent, his Drow team having simply called up three block horde assemblies in blocks adjacent to each other and then set off a few small explosions which had directed their attention to each other.

“Just point and fire,” Clara muttered.

“Just be thankful it’s not us or our worlds being pointed at,” I replied as we stealthily moved into position.

“True.”

“Tirus, take out the guards outside, please,” I sent out by radio.

There were several sharp cracks as the small team under Tirus targeted the ceremonial guard outside the main temple doors.

“All down,” came back over the radio within a few seconds.

“Lights, camera, action,” I murmured as I sent the signal to the Seers to open a hidden portal and let loose the wolves.

Marja had, with Roxanne’s permission, summoned a few more of her pack to supplement the ten normally stationed with us and fifty wolves were racing towards the entrance in the dawn’s early light, intent on wreaking havoc and destruction.

‘I have them in view, as well as the one designated for rescue, ‘ Lenna sent as she and her Drow had slipped into the temple earlier to catch the wolves entrance for the Seers to record.

‘Take out any Orcs you feel might get a good shot at the wolves whilst they’re ... distracted. Keep out of the way of the wolves, they can be trusted to know what to do and who not to touch, ‘ I replied as my team broke from cover to follow the wolves in.

‘You got it.‘

“Engaging a militia group who were trying to observe the riot,” Nell sent over the radio.

“Just be careful, friend Nell,” I replied.

“As ever, friend John.”

As we got to the entrance we could hear the sounds of fighting as well as screams of horror and the howls of the wolves.

“Oh, this is going to be ugly,” I sighed.

Frunt, the junior priest, hated this post. It usually being the place that the higher-ups in the priesthood sent those who had managed to offend them somehow and then forget about them. Nor was his state of mind helped by the Squad-boss in charge of the guards who clearly loathed the priests and the job he had been given. Though in his case there was a regular transfer rotation of offending units through the temple and sooner or later he’d leave. Frunt had been selected as a priest via various tests given to the children of the Yr’ch on Draenoric and sent out into the outer worlds to ensure they remained loyal to Beog. That was where things had started to go wrong. Unlike the other priests, Frunt had the rudiments of a conscience and, as a consequence, had rapidly been assessed after disobeying a ruling by a superior and cast out to a punishment posting where he could cause no further issues and be conveniently forgotten about.

He’d just gone through the rite of the morning tantum when a scream sounded from behind him. Turning, he saw one of the guards, an obnoxious grunt called Vig, who had frequently been caught urinating on one of the outer barrier posts, being thrown across the transept in a cloud of blood and other ... parts by a huge carnivore. The other guards, whom he suspected were running a blimmu school, had been using Vig as a lookout and had grabbed weapons only to be overwhelmed by a mass tide of unstoppable violence.

Frunt, though being naïve, was no fool and immediately ran to the hoped for safety of the priest quarters before the carnivores could make it down the length of the temple and get to him; only to pull up short as he heard the screams from within the quarters telling him that safety was most definitely not to be found there.

Skidding to a halt he reversed his direction in the hope that somehow the guard quarters might be safer only to watch in despair as the Squad-boss or what was left of him came crashing through the door, tearing it off its hinges, to land in a crumpled heap almost directly in front of him, tripping him and leaving him sprawled as the carnivores surrounded him.

‘This the one?‘ Adok asked over the wolves’ mental channel as he observed the prostrate priest.

‘Think so, ‘ I replied. ‘But Gregorius is here to check.‘

Still fully camouflaged, my squad, plus Gregorius, entered the temple, wincing slightly at the mess the wolves had deliberately made of the place ... or rather, of the Orcs. Moving silently we approached the surrounded quivering priest and let Gregorius have a look at him, or rather, allow Athena to look through his eyes.

‘Yes, this is the only one, ‘ Gregorius confirmed. ‘Demoted here for daring to give out temple rations to a small group of Orcs whose food had been contaminated by an accident.‘

‘A good person then?‘ I sent back.

‘By Athena’s standards, yes. Any of the Orcs would think him a bit of a pillock as he’s tied up in ritual and trying to interpret Beog’s ordinances in a manner that is not orthodox and failing to hide it from his superiors. Still, we’ll soon cure him of that as Athena’s writ is far more flexible and will give him an outlet for his methodology.‘

‘Melanie, please, ‘ I sent out to the Seer on duty.

‘Got him, ‘ came the reply as Frunt was teleported back to our Loegrian side base.

“People, do your stuff,” I said out loud to the surrounding pack.

The pack proceeded to tear the place apart as recorded by the Seers and several Mages whilst Gregorius and I walked behind the altar to view a crystal lens that covered the place where Beog had reputedly set foot on Vultoq.

“Well, it’s definitely a footprint,” I chuckled.

“Yes,” Gregorius nodded as he used a small chant to wrench the lens off.

“Can’t detect any magic,” I shrugged.

“No theurgical roots either,” he noted.

“Adok, care to piss on this?” I requested.

‘I’m all out. Hold on, I’ll get Szymon, ‘ came a laughing reply.

Less than a minute later Szymon padded up, glanced down at the fused footprint and then cocked a leg and with expert aim splashed the ‘monument’ with foul smelling urine.

The rest of us in the meantime were trashing the place, though ensuring it looked like the work of the wolves. The final touch was teleporting a statue of Athena in all her Orcish glory in to face the now shattered statue of Beog.

“Right. Done,” I stated, glancing around at the mess, as well as getting nods off all of the team as well as the mental assent of the wolves.

As we all went through a hidden portal we felt our memories being read by the Seers and caught glimpses of them putting the mission in the temple into a coherent whole.

“So, success,” Roxanne stated after greeting us, rubbing her hands together in satisfaction.

“Yes, Mage Roxanne,” I acknowledged as the Seers put up the results of their efforts onto the screen in the planning tent.

I had to admit I was impressed. The final result showed the Orc guards and priests either fleeing in panic, or being easily and effortlessly taken down by the wolves, followed by the desecration of the temple, the statue of Beog and the fouling of his footprint.

The end piece showed the statue of Athena appear in what I can only describe as a blaze of glory. A subliminal message informed the Orcs (presumably only those with souls) that a better goddess awaited their worship.

“Will they accept it?” I asked Gregorius.

“Not yet, but it will pave the way for other propaganda efforts, plus it will show Beog as not being invincible ... or, all seeing,” he replied. “It will help if the Seers could catch the investigators going over the scene, if it’s safe to do so.”

“We can but try,” Melanie nodded.

“This is an abomination!” the Inquisitor almost screamed, when they were alerted to the incident by the local Land-boss who had sent a Squad-boss to investigate and who had raised the alarm.

“Certainly a new approach,” Crnnch murmured as he sent his team away to investigate, realising that out of sight, out of mind was probably the best approach with the Inquisitor at the moment.

“We must use this to stir up the hordes and use their anger to bring down these barbarians!” the Inquisitor shrieked.

“That may not be wise,” Crnnch found the words leaving his mouth before he’d had time to think to stop himself.

“You would seek to conceal an abomination?” the Inquisitor hissed, eyes narrowed in wrath.

“Holy Inquisitor, the word of Beog tells us that he is all seeing, all knowing and all powerful. What do you think is the likely result if the uneducated hordes see this ... abomination?” Crnnch replied calmly.

The Inquisitor’s mouth shut with an audible ‘clop’ as Crnnch’s words penetrated his consciousness and caused him to really think as to the effects of an attack on a place where Beog had set foot.

“You have a point,” he snarled, feeling deflated. “It is for certain they would misinterpret this ... or be led to misinterpret it.”

“Indeed, Holy Inquisitor,” Crnnch agreed. “It is my belief that this is but another personal attack on you and hence the Beoghra. I suspect they fear your presence and look to discredit you and force a withdrawal.”

“You may well be right, Seeker; I will take this up with the Beoghra and let them decide what to do. In the meantime, carry on with your investigations.”

Crnnch gave a formal salute to the now thoughtful Inquisitor and went to see what his Adepts and their analysts had found.

“We have accounted for all but one Yr’ch, Seeker,” Slaarg replied at his enquiry. “The other disturbing thing is this,” he pointed at the statue of Athena.

“Definitely not part of the temple fixtures,” Crnnch stated rhetorically, swallowing slightly at the statues unearthly beauty.

“No, Seeker, definitely not.”

“I’ll try and keep the Inquisitor away from it until we have done a complete and detailed analysis of it,” Crnnch murmured, still enthralled.

“At once, Seeker. I’ll call a sled and we can cover it over and move it out without him seeing it,” Slaarg replied, sounding relieved, confirming Crnnch’s suspicion that he wasn’t alone in wanting to keep the statue intact.

“Any biogenetic samples?” Crnnch asked, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the statue.