Chapter 22: Consequences

"I may not." The Arbiter said sadly.

I just stared at her, incredulous. "Then I will." I sheathed my sword and knelt beside the fallen priestess, her hands were covering the wound over her stomach. There was blood pooling from her stomach, and I could see the pain that she was in. I placed my hands on her blood soaked ones and stared into her eyes.

"Let me heal you." She shook her head no. "There is no shame in losing, just in giving up without trying. Let me heal you, Priestess of Kassandra." I couldn't make it a command, but I tried to let her see my sincerity.

Again she shook her head no. I had to give it one last try.

"If you die now, woman, then you will never figure out why I beat you, that knowledge will be given someone else. One who learns from her mistakes."

Anger flared in her eyes and warred with the pain, she nodded her permission.

"Blessed Kassandra, please heal your priestess so that she may learn." A trickle of power flowed through my body along my arms and into my hands, which were resting over the gash in her stomach. The surge of power took her breath away, which caused her to pass out.

Relieved, I felt drained. The now familiar adrenalin slump that followed my asking for Kassandra's blessings in battle took a hard toll from my system. Sometimes I hated this society.

I didn't have much strength left, but the Sister needed rest and someone to care for her; that left me to remove her from the circle and take her to the infirmary. Still kneeling, I reached under the priestess and cradled her to my chest. I slowly stood, making sure that she was balanced against me. We were both covered in blood, but I didn't care, she wouldn't die from this stupidity, and that was all that mattered to me.

"Where to?" I asked the Arbiter.

"This challenge is complete." She nodded to me and clapped her hands loudly. A novice was at her side instantly. "Lead him to Sister Cynthia's chambers and then stay with her." The girl bowed and headed to the temple main door, not waiting for me to keep up. I, of course, followed.

The girl, about eight or so, led me into the temple and into the back, where there were individual rooms. Each had a wooden door with Kassandra's symbol on it. We went to the end, where on the left the girl opened a wooden door and held it for me. I entered and placed the priestess on her cot. The room was fairly spartan; it had a wardrobe, a cot, a weapons rack, a wash basin and a small bookshelf with five books. There was a single silver sword that hung on the wall over her bed.

"Get well, Cynthia, we have much to teach each other someday." I remembered to thank the novice before I left.

Not how I wanted to be introduced, but it could have been me bleeding to death. So I had no room to complain. On my way back out I stopped in the main room in the temple, knelt and prayed. I prayed for guidance and for thanks for keeping me safe, I also prayed for Sister Cynthia to make a full recovery.

I stayed on my knees, basking in the glow of Kassandra's presence. My reverie was interrupted by the scurrying footsteps of the novices on various errands. I was wondering how long they would let me rest here before I had to face the music. I didn't have long to wait. Stately footsteps approached from behind me. I figured that this was the High Priestess, and I did not want to make her wait since I was here to see her. If this went poorly I wouldn't be making it out of the temple alive.

Color me surprised. Our ref is the high priestess.

I bowed.

"Walk with me." This was a woman that was used to being instantly obeyed. So I did.

We exited the temple and walked clockwise around the grounds. Since the dueling circle was in the opposite direction, this area was new to me. We paused at each group so that she could make a few observations to me about them. The first group was made up mainly kids between the age of eight and ten. There were a couple of older girls to assist each priestess.

"For a small fee we train the children to care for themselves and their weapons. To the ones that excel, we offer further study." We continued on to the next few groups that were a little older. They were mostly boys in the classes; and they all were being put through a strenuous exercise regimen. The older girls were more interactive with this group than the younger groups.

I raised an eyebrow at what I considered to be a little over the top for eleven year olds. We moved on before she answered. "They eat better, and while we push them hard they are young and can adapt. We don't do anything that would harm the child."

I accepted what she said, nodded, and continued to follow her. The next two groups were even older kids. The ratio for female to male was higher than in the younger groups. Every one of them wore weapons, the standard dagger and short sword. It looked like they were learning how to move with the weapons without being encumbered by them. I offered that observation to her, and she told me that I was correct.

The mid-teen groups were small. The priestesses gave more personalized instruction to each of them. At fifteen the classes were eight to ten students per instructor, and each instructor had a late teen assistant.

"What are each of the levels called for the novices?"

"Petitioner, novice, initiate, postulant." The High Priestess replied.

That was the end of the student level classes. Next were small groups of soldiers.

"All the postulants receive individual training?"

"Of course."

When we came back to the dueling circle she paused. "You did more harm here than you imagined; Sister Cynthia had not been defeated by a man since she became a Sister. It's a good thing that she teaches an advanced troop of the king; she is there to mostly hone their skill. Everyone in that troop knows just how skilled she is, so there will be no lasting harm there. I just might have you trounce the troop just to keep them off-balance. Your duel will be the talk of the barracks for the next month."

"That wasn't my intention; I just wanted to see you before you saw me. I also have a couple of favors to ask."

"You want to ask favors from me after this?" She asked archly.