Champions of Serenity :Gathering the Circle

Chapter 20

Tris stood on the borders of her land and looked out over the branching paths that led into the world. She turned to look back once, then took a deep breath and resolutely took that first step from the only place she had ever known. After talking with Noshtra and Drianne, Tris decided she needed to find a village to learn about what was happening in the world and where she would need to go. It was also decided that the village on the border of her land wouldn’t work. The people there would be too suspicious and afraid to speak with her, so it had to be one further down the mountains.

Walking down the worn path, Tris thoughtfully ate a handful of berries. She wondered if she would encounter any of her father’s or mother’s people on her travels and what she would do when confronted by them. She also wondered if she would find those she had been dreaming of.

Midday she saw the smoke from a village rise over the next ridge. She stopped and thought about what Noshtra had told her of how fearful people could be of strangers. Dropping to her haunches, she picked some moss and mud from next to the path and grimed her hands and face. She altered her features just enough so that she no longer appeared Elven, but human. Tris then rubbed pine sap into her cloak and laid it on the forest floor to pick up small twigs and dirt and things that would naturally be picked up by the flight through the forest she was going to tell.

Her disguise and story in place, she made herself limp into the village and collapse against the central water trough. For a moment, people stared and then a few of the women rushed to her side. They offered her water and dipped gray rags into the water to clean some of the dirt from her face.

“My home…burned….soldiers. My man, murdered. All because we didn’t know we was to know about some girl living wild in the wastes. No one lives in the wastes, not even a girl.” Tris made herself sob, working hard to provide the tears that would streak her face. In the back of her mind, that other part called Debra told her not to overdo it. Anymore and it would appear to be a lie. Keep it simple and don’t add to it.

“You are coming home with me, child. My man and I will take care of you until you can get back on your feet. I’m Miranda.” The woman helped Tris to her feet and led her to the village tavern, the Wild Rose.

Inside, Tris was shown to a table and was given cold water to drink and loaf of warm bread to eat. She rejected the stew, saying it reminded her too much of what the soldiers had done to her man and was content to eat some fired vegetables and the bread. After she ate, she was shown to a small back room where she could sleep.

After a short rest, Tris went back into the common room to see if she could help out. Most of the village came to see the stranger and hear her tale, so Miranda allowed her to help wait the tables. Moving through the patrons, giving them beer and ale, she told them snippets of a story that Debra had put together in the back of her mind. The villagers would compare notes and find nothing amiss and yet still not know enough to pinpoint where Tris was from.

During this time, she also listened. A village on the tip of Taniry was destroyed by Greshinea; he had been looking for a young man, a weapons master who hadn’t been there. There had been other villages and towns destroyed on the orders of this Greshinea person. No one wanted to come to his attention or cross him. He had conquered most of Nasinih and was working on Catira and Taniry. Soon, all of the world would be his and no one would oppose him. Fear filled the voices of those who spoke his name and everyone looked to the shadows as if they expected him to appear.

Tris didn’t like what she was hearing, not at all. A human was creating a reign of terror across a land that not even her mother’s people could stop. No one messed with Demons, yet this man appeared to own them and their loyalty. She didn’t like how he just destroyed whatever wouldn’t bow to his will. There had to be, somewhere, someone who would stand up to this human and stop him.

In the darkness of the new moon, she left the Wild Rose and began her trek to the coast. She had to find passage on a vessel to Nasinih. It was there she would find this Greshinea person and if no one else was going to stop him, she would. The Elf in her cried out for vengeance for the damage this human was doing to her world. Debra wanted to stop him from more senseless killing. For such a quiet person, Tris thought it would be very dangerous to cross this addition to herself, this Debra.

Mhahluh glanced sideways at Quaird and lifted an eyebrow at her. “It seems our shared child has risen to the challenge very nicely. I don’t see why the others must whine and moan the loss of a child to such a cause as the one we now face. That fool, Chaos, has given enough power to his minion to challenge even us. I’m just glad that servant hasn’t figured that part out yet.”

Quaird turned away from the window and looked at Shægnek, her voice fluid. “It is true? Have the others come seeking releases for their children from this prophecy?”

Shægnek nodded slowly. “They have all been through much already and the prophecy is just in its infant stages. It won’t get any easier.”

“Each of those chosen was given the abilities to rise to the challenges placed before them. I am proud to have such a daughter to face such a task and do it without flinching.” Mhahluh said firmly. He then looked around the library and smiled softly. “Such works, Shægnek, and hidden within such depths.” He let his hand touch the mosaic that told the story of the Second. “There is much strength here, which is good. My child will have need of it. I must go, a masterpiece is about to be born.”

Quaird watched the god leave and looked at the mosaic, knowing she would never see in it all that he did. But he would never see the beauty and truth written in a rose as she did. A shudder ran down her spine. “Is it true, Shægnek? What he says about this minion?” When Shægnek could only nod, Quaird closed her eyes. “My child, she hasn’t suffered yet at his hands as the others have, correct?” With another nod, a single tear slid down the goddess’s cheek. “In the end, she will suffer more than the others, will she not?”

“She will be rejected by those who mean the most to her, she will fall into the power of the minion, and she will be feared by those she will free. Her suffering will be different. Will it be more or less, worse or better? That isn’t for me to say.”

“Thank you, Shægnek, thank you.” Quaird left the library, disturbed. She shared Mhahluh’s pride in their shared child, but she wasn’t sure she liked what all the children of the prophecy must survive. She thought about the gift she would give when the time came and nodded, knowing what it would be.

Shægnek watched the strange pair as they had come to watch the First and then listened to their quiet speech. They were very different from the others. She took another look at the First and wondered what they saw in her that no one could. Then her eyes turned in another direction and she watched the adversary for a time.