Chapter 12

The nightmare I suffered through last night, I didn’t even remember, just that it felt like it was happening to someone else.

Putting it out of my mind, I enjoyed an early, very quiet breakfast in the tavern before heading to Sune’s Temple. Yvonne wasn’t even awake when I left, which was a rare occurrence, but not unheard of. She wasn’t at her desk last night either, another rare, but not unheard-of occurrence.

I understood that she was avoiding me, but she could wait. Sune’s quest for me to get her temple up and running compelled me to not slack off. Chasing down friends who didn’t know how to deal with my new stature would have to take a back seat.

I wasn’t sure why. They all believed that I was a Princess anyway, so how would being a High Priestess of Sune be any different in ranking?

Was I really a High Priestess or something else? I tried to ask Sune that last night and didn’t receive an answer.

As early as I thought I was, I wasn’t early enough for countless others who wanted to talk to me and get Sune’s attention. From the bags under his eyes, Lars ignored my advice and spent the night guarding the temple.

“Lady Cynthia!” was called out repeatedly as I entered through the makeshift hole in the wall. Catching sight of the pastry girl sex-slave wannabe, I crooked my finger. Her first. “Lois, do you wish to serve Sune and swear to obey her in all things?”

Her head bobbed hard enough that I worried about her spine cracking.

“Yes, my Lady. Please, may I?”

“There is a broom in the temple, take it and start downstairs in the furthest room make sure you get the walls and ceilings.”

“THANK you, Lady Cynthia! I promise to not let you down!” she screamed and hurried off to do her first task.

“Thanks, Lars. Why don’t you get something to eat? I’ll be fine here.”

“Yes, Lady.” He replied over formally. I worried about the big man as he stumbled off.

I pointed at a pair of men with a purple crossed hammer and chisel motif on their chest to go first.

This would take a while...

Shepherd Meier and his men carried over a large pot of porridge for breakfast and/or brunch and Warden Lester brought over a haunch of smoked deer for lunch/dinner. Forgemistress Amanda led a Priest and Priestess along with five acolytes to assist with the repairs. The donation she requested for her temple’s help was less than any of the masons and would prove to be worth ten times as much.

Rhonda led five apprentices who knew limited water, earth and fire magic to help in the cleaning under the guise of real-world practice.

The masons that Father Chester recommended overbid the price of matching white granite by twenty percent compared to the second largest mason company. Since Theresa wasn’t stopping by until dinner time, according to the messenger from the Guild, I spoke to Rhonda about the stone she needed and who I should use.

“Cynn, the Weglars’ patriarch is a Priest of Yur,” Rhonda explained, “of course they will overcharge you since the Merchant’s Guild and Yur’s faithful are all aligned with Aune on the national level.”

I had suspected that the churches were all highly political and knew that there was more that Rhonda wasn’t saying.

“Anyone else I need to watch out for?”

“Everyone,” she replied.

“Figured. Thanks.”

“The main statue is completely demolished and can’t be repaired. You’ll have to commission a new one,” Rhonda advised.

“Do you know anyone?”

“No, but you can ask around. There is an artist street in the west quarter.”

There was, but they all sucked. I had passed them by in my wanders through Belfast. A few of the sketchers and oil painters weren’t bad, but the sculptors who only seemed to work with pieces under one cubic foot didn’t have the detail work needed for human faces.

“Cynn, it’s not a good idea to chase away the Baron’s messenger or ignore his summons.”

“The page is an ass. He said that the Baron demanded my presence ‘post-haste’. He was lying. I don’t know who that moron was trying to curry favor with, but it sure as hell wasn’t me.”

“But throwing him over the wall will only irritate the Baron, even if his page misrepresented him,” Rhonda patiently replied.

“I had fifty people waiting for my attention. The Baron knows that and he also knows that if he asked nicely, I would have stopped by on my way home. Trust me, unless he is here to deliver his head on a platter, I won’t be seeing that page again. Now, what about the left bank of columns?”

“One will have to be completely replaced; I can use some of the existing granite...”

Two children, one a little over thirteen and one who couldn’t have been ten, entered the temple seconds apart and waited obediently for me to finish with a merchant who was wasting my time. Presales on my first day? Moron.

The boy couldn’t stop staring at Sune’s Lily overhead. Whenever his eyes broke contact, he would look around and then immediately his eyes invariably returned to the Lily in the Sky.

The teenaged girl entered with an air of superiority. Her exceptional clothes and bearing stated her noble or extremely wealthy upbringing. She didn’t feel right to me. But I would give whoever backed her some face and give her a chance.

“May I help you, young miss?”

“My name is Ora Jasper. I was summoned by Sune to be a Priestess,” I was ‘Told’.

“Oh? And how did my Lady summon you, young miss?”

“I’m beautiful, everyone says so. This is where I belong.”

Sigh, a Pretty Pampered Princess. “Find Lois in the basement, ask her what she has cleaned and take over for her. I expect you to do a spotless job. Understood?”

“I brought my maid to clean. You can assign her to those tasks.” I was ‘told’.

And here I thought that the maid had followed the idiot just to watch over her. Silly me.

“I’m only taking prospective acolytes right now. If you are unable to follow simple directions, then quit wasting my time. You can go.” I didn’t have the time or desire to deal with wannabes right now.

“Do you know who my father is?!” she stated with an open threat.

The maid ran up to grab the girl yet was shaken off.

“Did you just threaten a Priestess of Sune?” I asked with a smile. And an edge.

“I’m not afraid of you, you don’t even have a house to back you and I will be Sune’s High Priestess soon.”

I laughed. And smacked her across the face hard enough to take the girl off her feet. Pointing at the girl’s maid, “Jasper is it? Tell this girl’s parents that I require their presence at 19:00 this evening. Trust me, you do not want me to come visiting. Remove this person from my temple now or I will throw her over the wall.”

Pale-faced, the maid half-dragged the stumbling and crying girl out of the temple.

The boy, on the other hand, wore clean but cheap and too small clothes. Ignoring the gasping and murmuring going on around me, “What’s your name?” I asked kindly.

“I’m Hat.”

“Hat, I’m Lady Cynthia. How old are you?”

“I’m nine. Is that your flower?” he pointed at the Lily above.

“Do you like it?”

His reply was a silent nod.

“I have one just like it. See this?” I palmed Sune’s Lily at the end of my necklace and bent over so that the child could see it better. The boy’s eyes widened and he tried to reach out and touch it but wisely halted half way.

“Do you want one of your own?”

“Yes, Lady Cynthia.” There was no falseness or hesitation in his actions.

“Then you will have to earn it. You will need to study hard and learn Sune’s teachings. You can admire and acknowledge other Gods, but Sune must always remain first in your heart. Do you think you can do that?”

Another silent nod.

“Hat, I need an answer, not just a nod,” I coaxed.

“Yes, Lady Cynthia. I’ll learn hard.”

“Good. Go find Lois downstairs. If you can’t find the way, ask someone inside. Tell her that you are here to help her clean. She will have you wash up first. Listen to what she says. Okay?”

“Yes, Lady Cynthia.”

I watched the barefoot lad run off. His appearance here felt right, even if it was too fast. Returning to the slightly diminished mob of people seeking something, I asked who was next...

Renting Lars for the week from the Guild was a good idea from Theresa. Just his looming presence alone kept some of the more boisterous merchants in line. My Guildmaster showed her pretty face right before dinner, towing a small cask of wine along with a few burlap bags full of linen.

Lars, Rhonda, Theresa, myself, and the two new acolytes all sat around a small dug out firepit, eating porridge and warmed up venison. Lois and Hat were quiet in the presence of the adults, especially a ‘real, live Guildmaster’.

“I hear that the Baron Vestor’s niece failed Sune’s screening,” Theresa smirked.

“Was that who that silly girl was? She is of the age where she should know better.” I wasn’t pleased that I would have to deal with the parents later, but I knew that the girl had too strong of a background to let the issue fester.

“I heard that Elder Judith from Aune, healed Page Sten’s arm today. It seems some short tempered ‘bitch’ threw him over the wall of her domain today.” Lois flinched and fumed that someone would dare call her idol a ‘bitch’ but wasn’t brave enough to confront a standing Guildmaster.

“I’m short on cash, if I threw him through the wall, I would have to pay for repairs. He was lucky that a broken arm was all he ended up with.”

“Cynthia, to some it looked like you are attacking the Baron’s people. Please don’t go overboard,” my friend cautioned.

“Yes, Mother Theresa,” I responded mock contritely.

“The King was contacted yesterday by the Baron, the mage Guild, the Merchant Guild, the Adventurer Guild, and most of the temples,” Theresa informed me.

“Will he do anything?”

“I don’t think so. No one will agree on what they should do with you and none of them are brave enough to start a war against a person that can kill a Basilisk by herself. Right now, you are considered to be the most powerful individual in the kingdom. The King will eventually send one of his children to meet you and report back.”

“How bad is it?”

“Not terrible. As long as Princess Anabelle Jane isn’t the one who comes, you can deal with them as you did with the Baron.”

“Remember, Theresa, I know little about the Royal family.” I didn’t know who any of the Royals were, let alone what they each represented.

“Princess Anabelle Jane is a Priestess of Aune,” she responded as if that said it all. And it did.

“I’m not worried. I’m still following Sune’s directives. Until she gets what she wants out of me, the followers of the Hearth Mistress will have to wait. I bet that they aren’t even allowed to interfere.”

“I’m not sure about that. Right now, you are being blamed for Mother Vennon’s death and her falling out of Aune’s favor.”

“They are lying. I even placed my hand on Aune’s altar and proclaimed my innocence. Something which none of them would do.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you are being held to blame. Within a 10-day, a third of the city will be calling for your head.”

“I’d like to see who is going to bell the cat,” I grinned at the thought of smacking around some of Aune’s Priestesses.

“Cynthia,” Theresa warned in an ominous tone.

“Theresa, there is nothing I can or will do that will make them happy other than bricking up that wall,” I gestured to the opening I made in the wall that ran around the temple, “and leaving the kingdom. Do you honestly believe that I will do either?”

“What will you do if the King bans Sune from starting anew?” she asked, mostly to play devil’s advocate.

“I will ask Sune what she wants me to do and go from there. So far, except for the first few assignments, she has only given me a broad outline. But she has directly taken over my body before and she has also given me explicit instructions. As for the rest, I plan on continuing to do what I feel is right.

“What do the other factions say about Sune and I?”

“The first Prince is on your side. But that is to be expected. He and his eldest sister are always at each other’s throats. Officially, the church representatives are all supporting your efforts while working against you where they can. The Merchant Guild is buying up votes to suppress the growth of Sune’s Temples in the largest cities right now. They had tried in the past to purchase your land, but never followed through. Queen Ansolon, the one who ruled hundreds of years ago, officially sealed up the land surrounding all of Sune’s Temples. You knocking down that wall and entering is actually a breach of her Royal Decree.”

I had heard the name of the Queen who was behind the Purge, but didn’t know of the Decree. Not that I would do any different in the face of Sune’s directives.

“Go on.”

“Both the Adventurers and Mages Guild are supporting you. The central Mages’ Guild’s support is light but the Supreme had a personal Audience with the King last night. I don’t know what was said, but the Guild,” her Guild, she meant, “is standing behind your efforts.

“As for the rest of the Royals, no one knows or is saying. Same with the majority of the high ministers. The King probably contacted the Higher Nobility personally and asked their opinion. He may even have issued orders. We weren’t told.”

“Has the Supreme said anything to you?”

“No. But if he did, it would only be to act against you, which he won’t do unless you start hunting Royals.”

“Lovely. I need to see Deana. Thanks for coming and having dinner with us. Lars,” I pulled out a map of the Kingdom, “will you teach these two about the land that we live in? Use a stick and draw on the ground if you need.” He accepted the task with a strange look. I doubted that he had ever taught children before and wasn’t quite sure how to begin.

Theresa and Rhonda split away from me once we were outside of the temple quarter. I had been dreading the confrontation with Deana all day, but knew it had to happen.

Richard was waiting for me inside a fairly quiet armory. The time was well past when the workers would clean up for the night, so nothing strange about that, unlike yesterday when all was quiet on my arrival.

“Hi,” I ventured.

“Greetings to High Priestess Cynthia,” Richard intoned.

“None of that from you or I will turn you into a toad,” I countered. “Has De gone home yet?”

“A few minutes ago. You heard the official announcement?” he asked, not at all pleased with the message.

“The one that blames me for Mother Vennon falling from Aune’s grace and getting killed by the Elders?”

“That isn’t what the message said and you know it, young Lady!” he waved his finger at me.

“Close enough. We both know that they need a scapegoat and I’m it. Can you imagine what will happen when the mother church hears about Belfast’s leader losing the Voice of Aune and, at the same time, Sune’s resurgence in the same city? Do you want to wager that the next High Priestess here is made out of iron and brimstone?”

“No wager. Those women are in for a deserved hard time.” Richard agreed with my assessment.

“What about your granddaughter?”

“She should be home. Why don’t you ask her?”

“That bad?” if Richard wouldn’t say, then it couldn’t be good.

“Shoo.”

“I’m shooing. Come visit me tomorrow. You might have some ideas on how to fix things that we are missing.”

“Maybe after my nap.”

“Thanks, Richard.”

I knocked on Deana’s third floor apartment’s door and waited. In the tiny apartment she resided in, I heard her move around even before knocking. She had to have known who was visiting at this hour, yet remained silent.

“Deana, please, let me in.”

“Go away, I’m not supposed to talk to you.” Her retort was too childish, I couldn’t but help roll my eyes.

“De, Shepherd Meier personally delivered porridge, salt and flour to me today. Do you think he would do that to someone evil or that kills people?”

“Go away.”

“Warden Lester delivered a side of venison. Would he do that if I were evil?”

“I’m not supposed to associate with you.”

“Your grandfather reveres Sur, right?”

“Yes,” she quietly replied from behind the closed door.

“You have met Forgemistress Amanda. If I were evil, would she personally come and help me for half the day and bringing priests and acolytes with her?”

No response.

“You have seen me almost every day since I arrived in Belfast. I haven’t killed anyone or been responsible for any deaths. I didn’t even kill the assassins that tried to kill me. You know that. Are you going to give up our friendship that easily? Just because other people don’t like me?”

No response, but I could hear her crying inside.

“Deana, think of your grandfather. Don’t you trust his judgment? We are still friends. Would he let you come to harm if I were evil?”

“Please go,” she cried.

“I’ll go. And remember, I’m still your friend.” Saddened at the stupidity and fear that such control felt to be needed from the powerful church. I briskly fumed on my way to the Baron to see what the hell he wanted.

He knew that I was swamped all day yet still demanded my presence. If he was playing silly buggers, I wasn’t going to be happy.

I walked to the Baron’s gates and announced myself, “Lady Cynthia here to see Baron Vestor, as he requested.”

“One moment, Lady,” the guard on the left spoke.

Fifteen minutes later, I was still waiting at the gates. I turned and left. Hearing my name being called, I kept walking. I didn’t mind waiting, but waiting outside the keep itself was asinine. The only purpose for a move like that was to ‘put me in my place’.