Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 3.5 Doen
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 3.5
Doen A Wave of Crimson
The party has elected 3 to 1 to bring the ravine down on top of the Blood Beasts and they'll have to contend with however many survive. The continuous battle finally seems to take its toll. The end result for this chapter gains the group the following modifiers: ++ Delay, -- Luck, +++ Favor, + Willpower.
It seemed like a good plan at the time. It made sense as far as the teachings of the temple: we would talk. But everyone around me also said that talking wasn't always so easy in the 'real world'... that we had to make certain we wouldn't put ourselves at risk, so it was a matter of gaining a position of strength... and that meant keeping our foes in the ravine. I don't know if it was inexperience, misguided trust, hubris, or pure stupidity that led me to my decision, but it is one for which I will never forgive myself. Had I known then what I know now I'm certain I would have decided differently but then, I am no Diviner... I'm no Seer... I'm ignorant. I'm blind. I'm Zachary the fool.
They trusted me, you know... trusted me to choose our best course of action, and I thought that trying to negotiate would hold true to what it meant to be a priest of Doen. It made sense to have Narissa, with her knowledge of Elemental magic to soften the soil and rock, and then have Jasper, Zeke, and Haldyn start the slide that would block off any exit to the ravine. It worked beautifully; in a matter of seconds we had the only exit to the chasm closed up beneath tons of rock. One thing kept tickling the back of my mind, but Narissa was the first to put it to words, "The stone!" she exclaimed, pointing to the side of the ravine, which was molding, changing, and shifting under orders from some unseen force.
It should have been obvious; a hole had opened in the earth back at camp, obviously to aid the creatures in attacking us... why wouldn't whatever that force was simply do the same thing in this case? The very moment a new ramp had taken shape the army of beasts immediately started ascend toward us. Haldyn shouted out orders to prepare a line of defense against the climbers, but nobody heard him-- not over the sound of a howl.
That howl... far more fear inducing than any other I'd ever heard practically turned my blood to ice. It could only have had Fayte magic imbued within it, giving us all a premonition of our own demise. It was a powerful howl... an otherworldly howl... it was YOUR howl.
That was the first time I got a clear look at you... standing amidst the Blood Beasts, your red fur almost seeming to writhe in the moonlight as you growled and snarled at your pack around you. You were the creature we saw leading the Blood Beasts away from our caravan... the strange figure silhouetted by the moon. I didn't understand then what I did now... what we were up against... what it was you stood for, or why you had attacked us. How could I have known? I was fooled by my own perceptions of the world.
"Hold steady!" Haldyn directed, calling to Dillan and Zeke, who looked like they were about to bolt.
"Tah'aveen is with us!" Taggart announced confidently; I took heart, watching our battle line form up. Despite the large number of Blood Beasts clawing their way up the landslide, I gazed around at my companions, thinking for a moment that we had the high-ground and that we stood a chance... I was so blind.
Speaking my own prayer for Tah'aveen's protection, I stood to the side, watching as Dillan began to rain arrows down on your pack. I'm no tactician so I had no idea how beautiful a plan it was; you kept our attention on the Blood Beasts climbing the rubble so we didn't notice the ones circling around behind us until we were completely trapped... it was only then that I realized that we did not exactly have the upper hand.
"We need an escape plan..." Rust warned, backing away from the ramp and towards the rest of us. Haldyn and Jasper followed, our numbers bunching together in the feeble hope that we'd be harder to pick off if we created a united front. Whispering to the Goddess I did all I could: I raised a divine ward around us. Considering the hundreds of your number surrounding us it wasn't much hope at all. What I found strangest was that your pack still hadn't attacked.
The sheer numbers we faced made fighting a very bad prospect, but it was obvious that Jasper didn't plan to give up easily. He went to stride forward, but I had to change his mind, "Stop!" I warned, but the rat's blade was already striking and he was well beyond the ward. Numerous foes rose up onto their hind legs, batting at him with their lethal claws and, even admist the mauling the rest of your pack pulled back and you alone came forward, walking the whole way. Your hunched posture seemed as natural to you as running on four legs to them, and you held my gaze even as we were circled by dozens of your number.
Trapped by your pack, I was only able to keep them at bay with the power of my Divine Shield, forced to watch as Jasper was slowly overcome. You claimed the final blow for yourself, and I watched in horror as your claws practically tore out his throat. After that I don't think anyone else had the inclination to fight... now with you standing before us, surrounded by hundreds of your kin. It was obvious by the expression on your muzzle when you approached us that you knew you had won... and the point was driven home when you passed through the Divine Ward without so much as a wince.
I wasn't sure what to expect when you stood there, staring us down... staring ME down The ward was something I wouldn't be able to keep up forever, and it certainly didn't seem to deter you in the least. You were evil, and I was a priest... Tah'aveen was with me... there was no way it could have ended there for me. Those were all the thoughts that filtered through my mind, but I lost track when you did something unexpected... you spoke. You didn't speak to all of us, I realized... you spoke to me.
"Priest." I suppose it didn't really matter WHAT word you spoke... the fact that you said anything at all was enough to catch my attention. In that moment my concentration on the divine ward broke. It took me a second to realize that I'd faltered, and I winced, expecting to hear my friends cry out as they were torn apart by your pack... but nothing happened. The Blood Beasts around us slowly ceased their growls and stood straighter, rising from their aggressive stance. "Follow." you said to me, and your pack parted in your direction, allowing me to do just that.
I followed without a word, but paused when the pack closed anew around the rest of my party. "Zachary!" Taggart called, then moved toward me, but a sharp growl from one of the beasts separating us made him pause.
"Tell them to wait..." you growled, your words barely comprehensible in the feral tone, "Or they die."
"Just..." I called back to them, swallowing the hesitance in my voice, "... wait here... I think... we're going to talk... negotiate maybe...?" I tried to sound confident, but I'm pretty sure I failed. The faint smirk you wore made me think you thought so too. Either way I didn't have a chance to think about it; I was made to follow you quickly by your packmates that followed the two of us. I was given the impression that stopping wasn't such a good idea.
My mind too chaotic with questions, too uncertain about anything and everything. "What..." the word came out quietly, so I started again, "what about my friends?" I asked. It was only one of many questions on my mind. Why didn't you kill us? Why were the wild creatures around us not attacking? Why did you speak? HOW did you speak? And why to me? You could have had us all killed, but not a single one of the Blood Beasts had even tried to draw blood... until Jasper attacked first... and then, only him. Why? The answer came soon enough.
"You smell like Father." you told me. It took me a moment to understand you; though you spoke the right words, they were filled with a growl, a feral tone to them, and you had to repeat it before I realized you were expecting me to respond. There wasn't really much I could say.
"Who is 'Father'?" What else COULD I have asked?
"Father was... Father." you explained, the growl getting even more animalistic; I realized right away you were going to have trouble explaining.
"Your Father was not a Blood Beast?" I asked. The comment got a growl in response, and your pack around me echoed the sound. Obviously I didn't realize my mistake.
"Not 'Blood Beasts'." you growled, "Father said city people call us Blood Beasts... not good name."
I was at a loss for words, "I..." it's difficult finding things to say at a time like that, "I don't know any other name for you... uh... them."
"We are Enaral." you announced; I could tell the word made you proud.
"Enarl." I repeated, remembering the name faintly from somewhere, but I couldn't place it at the time.
The growls around me stopped when you motioned me forward toward a cave, "In." you directed. I didn't have many choices, so I did as you ordered. The inside was warm and I saw the remains of a fire pit, though it wasn't lit. I saw a robe carefully folded and placed on a flat rock; it was a priest's robe... a priest of Doen. I also saw what looked like a hand-carved dresser, but what sat on top of it was what really held my attention-- that moonstone buckled leather belt. I knew that belt.
"Father Rondell." I spoke.
"Father." you responded, and, even though you'd moved silently I could feel your presence behind me... right behind me. Things suddenly made so much more sense.
"He was from Doen." I noted, taking another step in the cave to put some distance between the two of us, but you followed me. I turned to face you, and you were right there, "He was a priest of Doen."
"They made him leave." you said.
"He kept a Blood--" I paused when I saw your lip raise in a noiseless snarl, "A... an Enaral..."
"Mother." you added, and that's really when the pieces fell together. Father Rondell, YOUR Father was excommunicated from the Temple for rearing a monster and then using it for the Prayer of Unity.
"By the Goddess..." I murmured, and that seemed to be funny to you, but to me, I had just realized that your mother, a creature deemed by the temple to be an enemy of Tah'aveen, had given birth to Father Rondell's son... you.
"You smell like Father." you repeated your earlier statement, and took a step forward, lowering your head to rest it against mine. It was an intimate expression, and I felt at a loss for it. "Father returned to the Goddess and I not smelled him anymore."
"But, Father Rondell was a fox..." I pointed out, "I don't smell like a fox."
"You don't smell things we do." you explained, "Father told me." The words seemed to be coming easier to you at that point, which is why I finally gained the will to speak my mind.
"Why did you attack us?" I asked.
You turned around, your expression unreadable except your eyes... your eyes told me everything. At first I thought they said hatred, then vengeance... but, as you continued to look at me-- to stare at me, I finally understood, "You're afraid of us."
I really wasn't sure what I meant to accomplish by pointing it out, but your snort was enough for me to realize that I'd just made a mistake in identifying it. "I make my pack kill your pack." you told me, "You... might live."
"They are my friends." I explained. The things you said... the things you did... they didn't make sense to me. How could I make you understand what I thought you couldn't see? I was stupid-- you saw everything clearer than I did.
"You can all live..." you offered, "If you end curse."
"What curse?" I certainly never uttered a curse.
"Wasting Curse." you explained to me as if it was obvious, "curse on the Enaral."
"The Enaral..." I repeated the word, and I suddenly remembered where I heard it, "The Children of Ta'enar!" and then immediately froze; why did you call the Blood Beasts the Enaral?
"End curse, and your pack will live." you offered.
It made no sense. I remember thinking, "Wait..." I paused, "The Enaral were to us what the Delani are to Humans." I explained... not that you needed the lesson, I now realize, "They were destroyed after their leader raized a temple waysi-" but I was unable to finish my sentence; Narissa had said that the Blood Beasts destroyed a wayside.
"Not destroyed..." you stated, "cursed."
"But... that was Tah'aveen's doing!" I objected, "you can't expect me to undo the will of--"
Your powerful growl and the strike of the back of your paw against my shoulder not only stopped me from talking, but it also sent me across the cave to land in a heap on the ground, "Not HER!" you roared, "YOU! YOU!" the sounds were more bark than word, "Goddess did nothing! Priests cursed the Enaral!"
"Priests of Tah'aveen don't curse people..." I objected, "that's not the way we do things!"
"It is!" you growled, falling down to all fours as you stalked toward me. I was so afraid at that point that I couldn't say a thing. I feebly raised my staff but you batted it away with a single strike, "City people cursed us... Father said so."
"He was lying." I suggested, even as I wondered WHY he would tell a lie like that to you; what would he have to gain?
"I can make the Enaral kill everyone... everything..." you growled, your muzzle an inch from mine, "But I no do that." you added, "If your people talk true then you tell me why I not do that!" it was quite a challenge, so I had to think of something.
"If priests can curse your people why haven't I cursed you?" I asked.
"You no can curse me." you answered triumphantly, looming over me as I lay on my back, "Father say so... Priests no can curse Paragon."
That last word, the single word you spoke perfectly and without any hint of a growl or snarl... Paragon. You couldn't be a Paragon... that right was reserved for someone touched by a Goddess... someone who held within them a holy spark of power... a piece of the divine. "A... Paragon..." I whispered; you'd opened my eyes to so much in the short time we'd spoken that my head was spinning, "That's why they listen to you..." I wheezed.
"Father said I lead the Enaral... they know I am only Chief of tribe." I couldn't help but stare back into your eyes while you loomed over me, the stone of the cave rumbling all around you as you clenched a fist, "I rule here."
It suddenly made so much more sense; a Paragon. You had powers... control over the Enaral... control over the earth. "But..." I objected, "you're different than they are! Your father was a Priest of Doen!"
"No..." you shook your head with certainty, "Your people sent him away... he was Father... he was one of us."
"You aren't like the rest of these creatures." I objected.
Your growl silenced me, "I more like the Enaral than city priest."
"But they're... beasts." I didn't have many more ways to convince you otherwise.
"Not once curse ends." you challenged, "And you end curse so your pack not die."
"I... can't." I admitted, "I don't know how." I tensed up as your nose brushed across my neck, then trailed up to the top of my head. I shivered in fear when I felt your claws unsheath then resheath against my arms where you had me pinned.
"You not lie." your words were simple and to the point, but I didn't miss the hint of frustration in them, "You smell like Father... I let you live."
"You're a Paragon..." I spoke, the weight of the situation making it hard to breathe, not to mention your weight since you were hovering right above me.
"Father said yes." you acknowledged.
"And that gives you purpose, and allows you to give that same purpose to this... pack." I reasoned.
"I unite all the Enaral..." you nodded, gazing right down at me, "we lift curse, and we become true people again together."
"And you'll keep killing until you succeed." I clenched my fist.
"Yes." you said, and brushed your nose across the side of my face, "...but you live." your voice held an almost sense of reverence I found strange, but uncomfortably familiar, "You smell like Father." you whispered against my cheek, "You mated with Enaral..." and your broad tongue caressed the inside of my ear.
Your comment made no sense; of course I hadn't! But finally, after you licked me from chin to ear, I understood-- what you scented wasn't an Enaral... it was the combined scent of a dog and a lion... Taggart and Haldyn. I am attentive to my hygiene, but if what you said was true, chances are that you could smell that. Your next words confirmed that, "Father mated with females... but not you..." and I squirmed when I felt your flesh hardening between our bodies, "You be female for other males..."
"I am a Priest of Doen..." I explained, wincing as one of your paws brushed across my robe, claws dragging through my fur as you hiked it up, "I accept males and females as lovers." it was as casual a comment as I could imagine, but my voice cracked; there was no question about what you had in mind... of course, if there had been, any misunderstanding was gone when your claws shredded my undergarments with a single flick of your paw.
"I am Chief... I have all females I want... I have many Enaral females..." your teeth brushed my neck and I reflexively grabbed at the stone wall, the ground, and finally the wrists of your paws that pressed against the floor of the cave like stone pillars, "I no have male priest..." your voice was powerful and imposing, "until now." and I realized there was no doubt of those words.
I heard the sound of the claws of your feet dig into the dirt as you settled the rest of your weight atop me and I resisted what little I could by turning my face away from yours, but you snorted, and bumped the top of your head against my chin, changing your position so you could look down on me and you filled my entire vision, "You speak prayer... like Father did." it did not sound like a command.
"The... prayer?" I whispered, going tense as I felt your thick, damp flesh slide unerringly up beneath my tail. My fingers clenched down around your wrists in surprise, but you looked down calmly at me, not moving as much as an inch, "The... Prayer....? ...of Unity?"
"Father said we give Goddess thanks for all things." you told me, an uncanny intelligence visible within your eyes. When I first saw you I couldn't escape the eerie thought that a beast could look so much like a man... but at that moment I realized that I had based far too much on appearance.
"You... believe?" I asked hesitantly, seeing my own surprised reflection in your observant eyes. The expression didn't last long on my muzzle, however, as I groaned out when you pressed yourself forward and I felt myself split open by the movement.
Your words were drowned out by a bestial growl of pleasure, but your eyes never left me. Blinking, you repeated yourself, "She is the Moon Mother. All Enaral know this..." you breathed, pushing forward as I gripped your paws even tighter, "she is all good things..."
I felt a pain I hadn't experienced in a long time. Even though you went slowly, my body had a hard time with you... but you seemed to know this, and you stopped, leaning forward to brush the top of my head with your muzzle, "You speak prayer." your voice was calm... instructive... almost... pious?
"Tah'aveen..." I whispered, wincing when you moved your hips closer to mine, sliding in another inch, "Moon Mother..." I groaned, feeling my insides relocate as you slowly drew yourself back, "We pray, in your name." I moaned as you pushed inside again, quivering as your hot breath blasted against my neck.
"Moon Mother..." you growled, licking the fur on my shoulder, "...your name." your words weren't right, but they also weren't wrong... oh Goddess, none of it seemed wrong. I continued speaking the prayer, the words falling from my lip several times as your movements took my breath away. For the first time in years, I shuddered, almost failing to complete the prayer as your thrusts pushed me far faster to the end of my stamina, and your chuckling left me embarrassed as you lowered your body more fully against me, smearing my release between our stomachs.
"You are good priest." you breathed tightly, "good as female..." and your rhythmic thrusts ended erratically as you double-thrusted, and I felt myself overflow almost immediately as your fluids filled me faster than my body could accommodate. I groaned uncomfortably at the feeling when you drew yourself out and felt everything spill onto the ground, splaying out where I laid with you atop me. I squirmed when you licked me, and you rose up to all fours, looming over me with as much natural ease as when you stood on two legs.
"You are good priest." you repeated, your tone much more relaxed, a satisfied expression on your muzzle, "You smell like Father... now you smell like me... I let you live."
"And my friends?" I asked, still shivering from the experience of the coupling.
"You no cure curse... they die." you explained, "And we keep hunting... kill all city people until we find one who can."
"You won't let them live?" I asked, sitting up. I swallowed the emotions welling up when I spoke.
"No."
It was the word I was hoping I wouldn't hear. Father Bromley taught me about Paragons a long time ago... that each Paragon was a vessel of divine power held within a mortal body. Depending on whose divine essence infused them, Paragons displayed different powers in different ways. I suppose the ability to understand and command the Enaral was the way that power manifested inside you. What I couldn't understand... or maybe, what I couldn't ACCEPT was that you were using that power to kill the faithful. Either way, I had to act.
"This isn't what should have happened." Those were my words... and they'll echo around in my head until the end of my days, "The Prayer of Unity isn't supposed to bring this..." I felt the tears on my cheeks. There wasn't anything that I could have said that would have taken away the revulsion I felt when the warmth of your blood ran out around the hilt of the knife I had buried into your chest... the feel of it pooling around my paw as it shook against the weapon's leather grip, holding the hilt of the blade I'd forced into your body.
I smelled like your father, you had said. You brought me to this cave... you joined with me in the Prayer of Union. You knew I was a Priest of Doen. You knew that you could come to me for the Prayer of Union... you trusted me. But my friends trusted me too, and I couldn't betray them... not them. I'm sorry, Goddess, I'm so sorry... but no amount of apology can make up for what I've done.
Your hollow eyes stare down at me, beautiful in their own way. You don't seem at peace... the priests always told me that the dead are at peace. Goddess... so much blood... all over me... it took everything I had to push you off of me where you had fallen. You weren't evil... I know you weren't evil... so why did you have to be a bad guy? The stories in the temples always said the bad guys were evil. I shouldn't feel guilty... why do I feel guilty? I had to save my friends... had to undo the hold you had over the Blood Beasts.
From the sounds outside... the feral snarls and yelps I can tell that it's done-- whatever powers you had left when you died; that part of you returned to the divine. The power of my staff will be enough to make the rest of your pack leave, and my friends will be safe. My staff... the Divine Shield of a Priest of Doen... just looking at it makes me sick. Priests of Doen... I'm a Priest of Doen, aren't I? My eyes linger on the belt of Father Rondell... the belt of a disgraced priest.
It takes me a moment to realize how stupid a question that is. You gaze up at me, unspeaking, unblinking, and on your face is written the truth: I used to be a Priest of Doen. So where does that leave me then? I didn't realize how stupid I was... how much of an ignorant, naiive bunny I had been... the Temple of Doen is a joke-- I see that now, and its priests are clowns... that isn't life... this... THIS is life. Bloodied paws are life; killing so you aren't killed is life. Knowing that trust is as thin as the line of flesh that separates a blade from your heart... THAT is life.
I step out into the open and countless feral eyes gaze at me with an animalistic hunger. Back at the temple all young priests are taught a forbidden prayer... one created in the dark halls of Shrad... one that calls upon the full destructive force of the New Moon to harness all of anger, rage, and self-important fury of a priest, demanding that the Goddess listen to the pained, soul-aching cries of her child, and bring all of her vengeance to bear on the foes of the temple. The Temple of Doen teaches it to all of their acolytes because it is supposed to illustrate the evil of the world once someone steps away from the joy of the Pregnant Moon but, right now, I see it for the weapon it really is.
The words are easy to say... far too easy, and I wear the mantel of the ritual as if it were a second skin. To the Eternal Flame with the staff... I want that belt.