Archives: Search for the Stormlord
Chapter 6: A Second Priestess
Once more arriving at the temple of Myrii, Niklas saw that it hadn’t quite gained the majority of its followers. Since most of them were mercenaries and soldiers, most slept in. A few clerics were about, some yawning, but Niklas didn’t see Luda. Approaching several of the clerics, he began to inquire about her location...
A rather curvaceous black haired priestess turned to Niklas as he met the group of priests she was speaking to. A grin suddenly crossed her lips and she pressed her finger to them as she looked him up and down with pale, sea-green eyes.
“How may I be of service to you?” she asked.
The young swordsman frowned as he didn’t see Luda right away. Still, it was expected that she had her own duties she had to deal with, and also possible she was still asleep. When Niklas was approached by one of the priestesses, he nodded, and replied, “Yes, I’m currently looking for a priestess by the name of Luda. Have you seen her?”
Lianora’s smirk faded as he showed little reaction to her, and was interested in finding another priestess. “Hmm...Sister Luda hasn’t come in yet this morning,” she replied.
Frowning lightly, Niklas nodded. They would have to leave soon, and it was true that the priestess didn’t seem all that interested in going. Still, it was common courtesy to at least tell her where they were headed, in case she did want to show up. “Unfortunately, we can’t wait until she shows up. It’s a pity, we could have used a priestess of Myrii. Well, if Luda shows up, say the swordsman Niklas asked if she was interested in going to Shining Hill. If so, try to meet us there, if not, to thank her for her time. Is that possible, priestess?”
Lianora’s smile returned. Maybe she still had a chance. “Well, if you want a priest to accompany you in your adventure, then there are plenty who could join you, myself included.”
“I suppose so...” Niklas said, thinking about it. Well, the woman was offering, Luda had no real interest in it, it seemed. “If you want to join us, its your choice. I don’t expect anything will happen, we’re only headed to Shining Hill for my sword.”
Lianora grinned as he invited her. However, he wasn’t responding very well to her flirtations. Was he gay? Or just dense? Either way, she wanted an escape from the watchful eyes of the higher priests. “Let me pack, and I’ll join you shortly,” she said and began to turn away, but paused when she realized she’d been too excited to properly introduce herself. “By the way, I’m Lianora.”
Niklas was about to ask her just that, when she turned around and told him her name. So was a bit strange, it seemed sort of like she had invited herself, really. And she was eying him very strangely. “My name is Niklas.”
“Niklas,” she repeated with a smile. “I’ll be right there!” she said before taking off at a run, leaving the main chapel.
About ten minutes later, she returned with a few pieces of armor, a cloak, a spear strapped to her back and a whip on her belt. Slung over her shoulder was a small knapsack and bedroll. Returning to Niklas, she gave a cautious glance over her shoulder the other priests who didn’t seem to be paying attention to her. “Well, let’s go!” she said with a nervous smile.
The young swordsman blinked, noting the nervousness in her manor. It was a bit strange, as he thought clerics had total faith in their god. Still, it seemed to be directed at the other priests. Well, that was the business of those sworn to Myrii, Niklas was not at liberty to take such actions. “As you say...”
Lianora glanced over her shoulder one last time. Whether he noticed her nervousness or not, she had to slip out unnoticed. Little to his knowledge, she was on probation. She couldn’t stand staying around a moment longer, and she wasn’t going to pass up an adventure with someone so handsome. She took the lead out of the temple, even though she didn’t know where he was heading, but it certainly was going to start outside those front doors.
Stepping out, the swordsman noted a few people were moving, mostly merchants setting up their shops, although a few armed individuals, probably soldiers out of their uniforms, were preparing. “This way...” With that, he started to lead her back to the inn. It had turned into a very strange trip.
* * *
Returning once more, with the priestess in tow, Niklas was a bit uncomfortable with the way she was staring at him. It was very much like what someone hungry would do if they saw a steak. Noting all were still there, he cleared his throat. “Well, Luda had official duties, I believe. This priestess, Lianora, offered her services, though.”
Ghorde glanced at the newcomer, busying himself with his equipment. “Ah, so piety is in high demand these days?” Ghorde smiled grimly at his comment, “So, what’s her name?”
Jereidon looked at Ghorde and then to the priestess, giving her a nod before introducing himself. “Jereidon Thappis, and my familiar in the cage is Neria. I know you’ll find it odd but she’s a giant spider, though a a rather pleasant one at that.” He then glanced towards Ghorde for a second, making a bit of humor at his reply. “She’s already been introduced, is that a little bit of old age showing there Ghorde?” He then waited for them both to reply, hoping his attempt at a joke was not taken as an insult.
Ghorde slighted at the remark. “Maybe...” Ghorde got beet red with embarrassment, there would be no way he could live this down, “I just wanted to hear the priestess introduce herself. Maybe, Niklas didn’t speak clearly,” Ghorde searched for excuses, “Maybe it’s you who didn’t hear her name? Eh? What say you now kiddo? And since when did you start to speak to your elders like that? If this was the military, why I’d...” Ghorde fizzled comically as he grumbled into his backpack, “Whippersnappers...”
Jereidon wasn’t surprised at the response, Ghorde seemed to be trying to come up with a response until he seemed to stop. “Relax, I was only joking there Ghorde. I’m not always so serious about everything, so don’t worry about it.” He laughed a little and looked to Niklas, who probably caught the joke right away even if it was a bit mean.
Lianora looked over Niklas’s party, and judged each person by appearance. The older man, identified as Ghorde, was rather plain, but more rugged. Her eyes passed over him quickly and went to the mage, Jereidon who was speaking to him. He was beautiful, in the delicate, manicured way of mages. Niklas was just as attractive, but more masculine, even with his long hair. Jereidon had introduced his familiar, though Lia couldn’t see the spider’s cage very well under the table. A giant spider? Interesting... she thought. Arachnophobia was common, but Lia wasn’t bothered too much by spiders. Besides, if she wanted to try out the mage, the quickest way to his heart was through his pet.
The third member was a dark elf, but Lianora wasn’t one to be prejudiced against race when the man was good looking. The fourth member was female, and left Lianora confused for a moment. She was short and had the ears of an elf—at first Lia assumed she was an elf child, but she noticed her figure. A female dwarf, perhaps?
“Hi there,” she said to the group and gave a small wave. Niklas had introduced her, though Ghorde apparently missed it. She decided to introduce herself anyway. “Well, I’m Lianora, priestess of Myrii,” she said, then walked across the room to the table the group was gathered around. Her walk had the grace of a trained fighter, with more than a hint of sensuality with the sway of her hips. Leaning against the back of an empty chair, she smiled to each of the party in turn. “So, who might everyone be?”
Bella curiously observed the priestess and noticed that her attention lingered on the more attractive men of the party. Bella hardly noticed the good looks of Niklas, Jereidon, and Midau as more than aesthetic, since her interest was for her own kind. Luda wasn’t so obviously interested in appearances, Bella recalled.
The grassrunner rose up on her knees to make herself more obvious as she introduced herself. “Hello Lianora, I’m Bella,” she said. Just in case Lianora didn’t know what she was, she added, “A grassrunner shamaness of Alecrast.”
“I’m Midau.” he said offhandedly to Lianora. “I’m just wandering aimlessly until I figure out where I want to go with life.” He pointed to Niklas “So I’m going to follow him around for a bit, then maybe take Bella here to that strange and wonderful forest the high elves call home.”
Ghorde swallowed his dignity and stepped toward the priestess. “So, Lianora was it?” Ghorde offered a hand in greeting, “My name is Ghorde Grufmaisen. Simply that, nothing more.” His hand was covered in calluses, but was clean. Large fingers attached to a wrinkled palm reached out and clasped the priestess’s hand. “So, have you traveled before?”
Lianora acknowledged Midau, but Ghorde stepped in to introduce himself. She shook his hand firmly, like a fighter should, but there was a delicate touch to it as well as she slipped her slender hand into his. “Oh yes, a bit,” she replied. “So, Niklas says you’re bound eastward?” she asked, turning to look at the group.
“And I introduced myself at the temple...” Niklas said, looking around as each party member introduced themselves. He lingered on Midau when he talked about an elf forest. He didn’t really have an interest in going to one, but the concept did intrigue him somewhat. “East, yes. My master told me that the sword was located in Shining Hill.”“Well, when are we leaving?” Lianora asked, smiling warmly to the party. She cloaked the anxiety in her expression, but her voice was suspiciously eager.
Midau nodded. “I’m ready to go whenever you are, Niklas.” He patted Bella’s head gently. “I’ll carry you most of the way.” Midau offered. “It might be easier than you walking and slowing the group down due to your shortened stride.”
Jereidon finished eating, standing up he picked up the cage. Hearing the annoyed tapping he sighed, she was really edgy at the moment and needed to get out. “I’m ready when you are, as well. I can’t keep Neria caged up for more than a few days. Already she’s getting a little cranky, nothing to worry about though.” He laughed a little as he looked to the now exposed cage, the eight beady eyes watching everybody with curiosity. They were obviously friendly, but still she was a little nervous about being with a large group.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be perfectly fine. Just remember to stay by me, that way there’s no trouble,” Jereidon replied to Neria, looking around and smiled. He was nervous inside too about this. He had never traveled with a group since he had left his master, though he had been advised to hire a mercenary to help him.
“Thank you, Midau,” Bella said with a smile to the dark elf. Since the time they spent together the day before, Bella’s stress had almost completely evaporated. She was quite comfortable with riding around on his shoulders again, even if it meant she was further mistaken for a child by others. At least this group knew better. “I am ready,” she stated and slipped out of her chair. “Niklas, is there anything else we need to do?”
Midau helped Bella up onto his shoulders and looked to Niklas. “Are we stalling for a particular reason?”
Blinking lightly, the young adventurer shook his head, and pushed some ivory locks out of his face. Niklas seemed a bit surprised by the whole thing, but he sat up. “Just... I didn’t expect to find so many people who wanted to travel with me. It sounds like a boring quest, but... it is my own.”
Heading towards the door, he gave a slight smile. “Well, it may not be a terribly long quest, but still, its important to me.”
* * *
It took some time to navigate through the crowded city of Roid, and to the more seasoned travelers, it probably did seem rather odd that the swordsman had taken the overland route rather than the sea route. In the end, however, Niklas seemed happy enough moving on foot, and even hummed a soft tune.
Jereidon found his way through the streets easily enough, and once they were out of the city he set Neria’s cage down. She knew where she had to be, he did not want to lose her to a traveling companion who hated spiders.
“Let’s be careful, scout ahead for us please,” he spoke as the cage was opened. Neria came out and looked around. She seemed a lot more relaxed, and after a moment she took off ahead of them and into the brush. Hopefully she would return soon, there would be no surprises this trip.
Lianora seemed tense through the entire walk through the city, but as they passed out of Roid’s gates, the priestess relaxed. She seemed to be put even more at ease the further they got from the city walls.
Jereidon paused to release his spider and Lianora paused just behind him to watch it go. Spiders didn’t bother her much, and oddly, the larger spider bothered her even less than tiny ones.
Bella gave a little shudder as Neria was released. She was safe up on Midau’s shoulders though. After the spider scuttled away, the grassrunner relaxed and breathed the fresh air of the country side in deeply. “Ah...it feels good to be out of the city!”
Midau glared at the spider’s release. “Yes, city air tends to have a stifling feeling to it,” the dark elf stated. “Of course, between Roid and Raiden, I’d say that Roid is far quieter the city.”
“Definitely,” Bella agreed. Raiden was the first city she visited, since it was the main port between Alecrast and Lodoss. “Raiden was terrifying and intriguing all at once.”
“Terrifying?” He shrugged, accidentally raising Bella’s small form. “I guess so. I lived there for most of my...” he stopped in mid sentence. “I...forgot how old I am.” He sighed. “It happens in old age. You get past your third century and suddenly the world seems different.”
Bella giggled at his lapse of memory. Looking at the road ahead, it appeared to be a long walk today. A good time to strike up a conversation, Bella thought. “Niklas, can you tell us more about this sword you’re looking for?” she asked the young man leading them.
Stopping, Niklas looked back at Bella, and looked to be in thought about it. After a few moments, he responded; “I don’t know much about it, myself. My master saved a dwarf before I was born. When he offered payment for it, she asked what his profession was. When he told her he was a smith, she asked for a sword for payment. His masterpiece... I do not know if its finished or not, but its to be a symbol of my adulthood.”
“A dwarven sword?” Midau mused aloud. “I see why you would want it. Even if it were not your proof of adulthood.” The dark elf scratched his head with his scarred hand. “Dwarven weapons are usually extremely well crafted, most sell for well over the common price of human steel swords. Most dwarves are rather secretive about their smithing secrets, a lot like elves with theirs. While an elven rapier would have speed, grace and beauty, a dwarven longsword would trump it in strength and durability, but be matched in beauty. I haven’t run into too many dwarves willing to part with their weapons, mostly due to their insistence for their dislike of my race. Dark or common, us elves aren’t looked upon fairly by dwarves, possibly due to my counterpart’s dainty reputation.”
Jereidon listened to the story, it was similar to how he had become his masters apprentice. But still, a dwarven sword was rare, and if it was proof of Niklas’s adulthood then he had to find it. “If it is not finished, perhaps if we found the smith you could ask him to finish it? I have heard many things about dwarven weapons, though in my life I have not seen one. Do you know where in Shining Hill this sword lies, or will you have to search for it as well once there?” He was curious as to what a dwarven weapon even looked like, though that would have to wait until they found their goal. His own quest still remained on his mind, he wondered how many of them would help him eventually find his missing sibling after this.
Midau shot a glare at Jereidon. “Do you know how long it takes to forge a weapon? You cannot just make one over night.” Midau mockingly mimicked Jereidon, “‘Oh Mister Dwarf, it’s not done? Can you please just finish it up, my friend needs it by tomorrow’.” Midau spat, “Fool. Take your head from your ass and realize that smithing is a sacred art. It cannot be rushed.”
“I suppose...” Looking back at Midau, Niklas gave the dark elf a quick nod. “Most swords take weeks at a time to create, and may lack any sort of precision. They have both the artistic value and ability as the anvil they were forged on. Effective, but not as much as they could be.” Whatever naivety he had shown about other subjects, he apparently knew a bit about swords. “If the dwarven smith decided to make one, I will still accept it. However, I trust he kept his word and created a fine blade. If its not finished, I will wait until it is, even if that is years away.”
Jereidon tried to take no offense to Midau’s words, in fact he was rather naive about swords. He heard the best ones took years, Niklas seemed to understand that. “I’m more versed in magic, anything I do know about swords is from travels with my master. I assumed that it would take time to even finish an unfinished sword, I did not mean to offend you by any means,” he replied to Midau with a slight nod, he was not going to hide anything from the group. Hopefully Midau would realize he spoke in error, though he did act a bit naive at times about things.
Midau took Jereidon’s acceptance of his own ignorance with little words to speak. He spoke low to avoid the human ears of the group. “What do the spirits in the area say, little Bella?”
Bella closed her eyes to focus and stretched her senses. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and there were definitely no concentrations of invisibility spirits as Midau had been worried about. Bella opened her eyes. “All is well,” she replied to the dark elf.
“Good to hear,” Midau muttered. He gave Bella’s hips a light rub. “We won’t have to worry about that for a little while longer, just check for me again when we reach our destination.”
Ghorde, at the rear of the column, privately struggled to keep his balance with the weight of his pack. For some reason, this morning made his bones stiff. But surprisingly, he had plenty of energy. Perhaps it was the excitement of traveling with company once again. He overheard the conversation about swords. What little snippets he could hear. The comment about the quality of the sword based upon the anvil gave him a little food for thought, but he soon laughed it off with a guffaw.
Lianora walked along silently, falling in alongside Niklas as they talked. The dark elf seemed to be at odds with the mage, though Jereidon took his criticism with humility. He seemed to respect the obviously more worldly dark elf, even if the dark elf was annoyed by him. The priestess turned her attention back to Niklas. “Perhaps when you get this sword, I can bless it in Myrii’s name,” she offered with a small smile.
“You would?” Niklas looked over at Lianora, and gave a light nod. “Thank you. I got the war god’s blessing once, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to again.” Looking around, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, and he frowned. He was hoping to see a food source, but it seemed he would have to hunt once camp was set up, or if they made it to the next town.
Ghorde spoke over to Niklas, picking up his pace to catch up with the main group, “How far do you suppose we should go before we need to make camp?”
Midau grunted. “Until the sun hits our backs, our stomachs remind us of day’s journey,” he mumbled. “This road is strangely quiet.”
“Indeed, I don’t intend to set up camp until I have to,” Niklas said, looking about to see the terrain. It was weird to him. He was used to traveling at night, while taking cover during the day. The new way of travel was not unpleasant, but a bit alien to him. “Do any of you know the area well enough to know of a fairly well used camp ground?”
“Oh, we might be able to reach Lesmoa by nightfall, but if not, I’m sure we’ll find a safe campground, or a small village,” Lianora replied. “One can cross from Roid to Lesmoa, or Roid to Adan in a day’s trip on horseback,” the priestess continued to explained. She knew Valis rather well, but Kanon was a different story.
“I’ll trust your directions over mine. I only know where we are going, not the exact route.” In fact, other than the compass direction, Niklas had no clue what the whole route would encompass.
