Entry 12- Executing the Plans

            We all entered the plaza with the rabble. Four chairs were set on a dias. ropes were around the chairs and Ithella looked sternly over the group. Racha wasn’t seen, nither was Parkik. Now was the time to snag the three missing Order of Sina members. I spotted my mark. A young girl. No older than me. With red hair, green eyes, and freckles. Dame Reia. Her family was a prominent lumbering family in the town. They had some far off land that shipped wood treated for the flooded lands but she joined the Order of Sina and thus she was an enemy. She also looked frustrated because of the ward around the town. I felt the familiar tug on my chest as the magic syphoned off. Two hunters brought Yuda to the stage and Ithella began a speech. The audience settled and Reia became engrossed in our leaders words.

            I walked up behind her, put my hand on her shoulder and said, “You’re under arrest. By the old rites of the Iron Pillars, you may speak your case in front of the village but know you’ve been deemed guilty and will die by execution. May the Pillars accept your soul.”

            She visibly stiffened. I grabbed her wrists and lifted them past her shoulder blades. She screamed in pain and I drug her to the dias. I put her in one of the chairs and whispered.

            “try anything and you’ll hurt.”

            She looked at Yuda. “You weren’t supposed to give us away!”

            “H-He forced it out of me! Why were you even here?!” Yuda asked.

            “So I can give the last rights for your soul to return to the one.” She said.

            He looked down and shook his head.

            Ithella stepped in front of the two of them and said, “Reia, you’ve been sentenced to death due to being an enemy of the pillars and destroying the Healers hut, either directly or by association putting the community at risk. What do you want to be remembered for?”

            Reia sat tall. “I am a priestess of the Order of Sina, I brought it to the village and converted people here! I am responsible for the burning of the heritics hut. Only the one god has the power to heal the sick and wounded and by his grace he will save us all! May his wrath fall onto the village!”

            Parkik and Racha entered the dias without the twins. Ithella looked at them and they shook their heads. Reia laughed and Yuda hollered. Yuda say, “The wrath of the Order of Sina will fall upon steadfast! You will all die! The twins will take you down from the outside.”

            I looked at Ithella, “How did they get out of the ward?”

            “I-I don’t know.” She said. Shaken.

            “We don’t have time to worry about this.” Racha interjected. “We ran them out of town. That’s all that matters.”

            She looked at the two. “By fire you reduced my Healing hut to ashes. So by water I will return you to the Iron Pillars for Judgement. As killing by fire would be too nice.”

            The world froze for a second. My eyes darted to the audience. I noticed a crossbow. Loaded and aimed at Parkik. My iron ring glowed and whispered words, “I will protect Parkik.” I heard the ping of the crossbow. I unleashed my staff and knocked the crossbow out of the air. It plinked onto the plank at Parkik’s feet. Then another arrow was unleashed from somewhere else and I saw Ithella raise her hand and deflect the bow. A battle had begun. I spoke loud and clear to the people of steadfast. “People, our way of life is threatened. The mystic orders are all dying and it has something to do with this Order of Sina. As the Mystics die so will the indestructible Iron Pillars. The iron lands will become a harsher place as the Pillars Crumble. Stand as a community! Capture the two traitors before they spread the corruption of life!”

            This speech rallied the people. They all moved in on the archer among them and Ithella went after the other one. I stood on the Dias guarding the two prisoners. But as the one in the audience came up onto the the dias he struggled free and killed Reia. He said, “May the one take your soul!” then he turned his dagger onto himself and as it had her blood on it he drove it through his heart. His brother was also killed in the struggle. Leaving only Yuda alive.

            I looked at the man who was fear struck. “No. They should have let me join them!”

            I looked at him. “You betrayed them. So, your order abandoned you. The mystics won’t. Just denounce the one, accept the pillars.”

            Racha shook her head, “No more blood…Needs to be spilled.”

            I looked at Ithella who was covered in the other guys blood. I looked at the body and then to Reia. Parkik walked up to her and shook his head.

            “A shame. She was so pretty too.”

            He patted her down and I saw him pocket her Order of Sina token.

            Ithella looked at me and said, “You need to kill Yuda. Or spare his life.”

            I looked at the man. He was shaking and his eyes looked soulless. I held my hand out. He looked at it and then said, “I am tied up. I don’t know what you want.”

            “Will you return to the Pillars Graces and live? Or do I have to kill you in disgrace?”

            “I will return to the way of the Pillars. I will take a pilgrimage to The Black Pillar in the Havens and I will repent for my transgressions against the holiness.”

            I used a slight of hand trick and made the Order of Sina token appear, the one I had taken from him.

            “You must destroy this as a show of your conviction.” I said.

            Parkik used one of his daggers to break the ties. I set the amulet on the ground and Ithella whispered a spell into the air. The air around the amulet rippled and the man stood up and stomped on the amulet, destroying it and shattering it to pieces. The audience clapped and then the world went to darkness around me as I passed out. Between the Ward being kept up, blocking that arrow and the energy I’ve exerted the last few days. My heath wasn’t doing good.

            I remember in the blackness I had another Pillar dream. The world was a void around me. Black as gloom. I felt the life around me fail and the only pillar standing was the pillar of Black Iron in the Havens. I was standing on it. Its foundation was cracked, and light was spilling out to be consumed by the void. I felt the magic I was so used to controlling flooding from me into the pillar, protecting it, warding it from the outside world. I would save this pillar with every last energy I could. The pillar had a life, a heartbeat, a soul. I could feel it under my feet as I fed it my energy. Then the pillar crumbled, replaced by a person. Bound in chains. Kneeling before me. I saw parkik on the outside of a warding circle and looking at me…or through me to the person chained and bound.

            Just as I was about to speak, I woke up in the not-abandoned house. In my own room. Parkik was beside my bed. Rain soaked his shoulders and plastered his hair to his forehead. He said as he saw me looking at him.

            “You really need to stop passing out…I can’t take this.”

            “I-I’m a little tired.” I said.

            Parkik laughed it reminded me of metal bells of the cities of the Havens.

 “Yeah.” He said. “Racha said you got hurt on stage but no one saw it happen or how it happened.”

“Well…at least the Order of Sina is eliminated from the Town. Now all Racha and Ithella have to do is damage control. I think the town’s troubles will be eased.”

I closed my eyes and noticed I wasn’t wearing my cloths for the first time. Then looked at Parkik.

“Where are my cloths?”

“Racha told me to strip you so she could wash them from the salt, blood, and mud.”

“Of course she did.” I felt a heat in my cheeks. I sunk deeper into the blankets and said, “You need to stop seeing me naked.”

“Ehh, your culture is weird. But some things are easier to get used to. Back at home. We have hot springs in the mountains. Coming from dormant volcano tubes. But the boys of the village loved to bathe in them. So it’s not uncommon to be naked around other boys and men.”

We ended up talking more about the nudity and other guys. Eventually I learned Parkik had a few lovers in his past both male and female. He didn’t care about the whole gender division as long as love was present, and personalities were important. I was intrigued by this, not because of the philosophy but because his father was okay with this experimentation.  My vow to find and fix the troubles of Steadfast seemed to be coming to a close.

The ring glowed weakly and then sparked. The vow was completed but being a vow to protect the entire town, was massive. We killed all the members of the Order of Sina in our village and converted one back to the way of the Iron Pillars. There may be repercussions to this…

______________________End of Tallyden’s thoughts______________

Hi there, we haven’t formally met. I am the god of thought and plans. Zeronius. My view is omnipresent and Tallyden here has reach beyond the veil and began sharing his adventures with your people. Welcome. Welcome to the iron lands where my brothers and sisters slumber…oh but that’s spoilers. We’ll get to that. I just wanted to pop in and show you good folks something interesting.

 

Elsewhere in the ironlands, a group meets in the dark of night. Their cloaks burn a crimson red and radiate a light. They wear a token on their necks, the Token of the Order of Sina and a person stands in front of them.

Person: Welcome Children of the One God. We gather here to mourn the loss of our brothers and sisters in Steadfast. They have fallen to the Pillar Lovers, heritical mystics of that town. We mourn their loss but we move to plan their vengeance. Steadfast will fall!

Soft applauds moved through the crowd and your scene fades to black on the clapping.

 

Sorry. Can’t spoil too much but Tallyden, Ithella, Racha, and Parkik all spurred the world into action and their threat grows. Leaving someone alive was a mistake…at least that’s what I think.