Acolyte of the Pleasure Goddess Ch. 03

"There are thirty-five silver halves in there. The Guild should provide all that you need, but it's rarely advantageous to go around penniless. Besides, you might stop by an inn along the road, and those rarely operate on charity."

"An adventurer's tavern?" Delyssa said, trying not to sound excited. She knew the tales: rogues swinging from chandeliers, wizards' enchantments running amok, strange unhuman people from wyrd lands coming together in reprieve.

"Yes, well, you might not find them as wondrous as you may have heard. Anyway, I suppose that all that's left is this," Kruit said, pulling the quarterstaff from its sling around his shoulder. On him, it hung a hand's span above the ground, but it was nearly Delyssa's height. Kruit passed her the staff and she hefted its weight. It was thin, slender and perfectly carved.

"It's heavier than what I'm used to," she said.

"The ends are capped with steel," said Kruit, and Delyssa noted the small clang from where she set it against the floor. "Its core is made of ash, a good hard wood. It should have a little bend to it, but not much. Don't underestimate how useful a pole is when you're in some dark dungeon somewhere. A staff like that is often of more use as a tool than it is as a weapon. Though it should be a fine weapon, judging by the look and feel."

Delyssa gave it a practice twirl around her body, spinning the staff in her hands in quick circles. Kruit took a step back. "Good form," he grunted, watching for a moment before glancing at the high windows of the great hall.

"The sun has fully risen now, Delyssa. I think it's time for you to depart."

Delyssa swallowed. "I suppose you're right. Are you going to accompany me to the Campaigner's Guild?"

Kruit shook his head. "No. I don't think I'm prepared for that walk just yet. But as it happens, I chanced upon one of your new companions in the market this morning. A young man, a sworn sword to Saint Barassa."

"Really? A paladin?"

"Indeed. I tried to take his measure; he seems like a good man, and capable. Delyssa, if I met him and thought he was a fool likely to get you hurt or worse, I would not let you go. But he seems to be a decent fellow, though I cannot yet say the same for his companions. Whenever you meet an adventurer, try to get a feel for them. Trust your instincts. There are many who cannot be trusted, but of those who can be, you will never find a truer, more loyal companion. I pray to the goddess that you find yourself among the latter sorts."

Delyssa set the staff against the table and hugged Kruit. "Thank you for everything," she said, her face pressed against his chest. "I wish I met you a long time ago."

"Ah," he said, one calloused hand holding the small of her back, the other stroking her hair. "For me, our meeting was a miracle, and so I'm not sure that I would change anything. But I share your sentiment."

Delyssa let the embrace last for a dozen more heartbeats before she finally pulled away. "Give Mother Corporeal my thanks for, well, everything. She saw in me what I did not."

Kruit laughed and nodded. "I will, Delyssa. But you need to stop fretting and talking like you're never going to come back. What's most likely is you'll walk along the road for a few weeks, hide from some sick creature, stuff a sack of old coins and trinkets and run back. The next time I see you, you'll be head-to-toe in dust and will spend the rest of the month complaining about all the personal details of your companions. That's my prediction, and if you want to prove me wrong, then you'll have to get going."

"Right," said Delyssa, wiping at her eyes. She slung the burdened pack onto her back, rolling her shoulders to get used to the weight. "Well... I suppose I should go, then." She stepped past Kruit and towards the main temple sanctuary, and the grand bronze doors that led into the rest of the city.

"Take care, Delyssa," the golden-eyed man called from behind her.

It was still too early for services in the main chamber. Other bleary-eyed acolytes were busying themselves preparing for the day's worship: lighting candles and incense, sweeping and mopping the floor, re-arranging the rugs and pews that were invariably shifted and scattered over the course of the day. The initiates made quick farewells to her as she passed through the sanctuary: hugs and kisses, short proverbs, prayers and blessings.

The doors to the temple were maintained and well-oiled. Delyssa pushed them open with little effort and stepped into Gra'tan. A brief nod to the watchful disciple on portal duty, then Delyssa focused on the city before her. The cresting sun over the distant eastern mountains painted the sandy streets in gold.

The Temple of Shevlana was towards the middle of the Street of Souls, a long avenue that sloped up and down the highest part of the city. From atop the stairs that led to the doorway, Delyssa could see far out over Gra'tan: alleyways twisting between squat, flat-roofed buildings interspersed with the cylindrical towers of magicians and magistrates that protruded here and there into the skyline. To the east and west of her, the street was still mainly empty. Down by the Temple of Shevlana's neighbor, the Abbey of Amnastra -- the God of Storms -- priests were preparing the public altar for their morning's sacrifice. Trudging along the street, a lone god-peddler pushed a cart laden to twice his height with talismans, idols, and fetishes towards Prophet Plaza.

And standing at the base of the steps, in the shadow of the statue to Saint Artelia stood a lone man. Delyssa could glimpse bronze skin beneath waves of dark hair, sun-kissed at the roots, that spilled out over his shoulders. He wore a white cloak that had faded to gray, along with a matching tunic. An ornate silver shield was slung across his back, and a longsword was scabbarded at his waist. The lengths of chainmail that covered his arms and skirted his waist gleamed in the morning light.

He turned towards Delyssa as she descended the stairs, and she faltered for half a step. The paladin was young and exceptionally handsome, even by the standards of the Goddess of Beauty. He had a trim, kept beard and looked at her with sharp hazel eyes over a sharp nose, his gaze softening as his full lips tightened into a smile. The glow of the morning cast an amber glow across his face and hair, and for a moment as he turned, he was given an aura of gold.

The front of his tunic was embroidered with the sign of some order that Delyssa did not recognize. A pair of brown leather gloves were tucked into his belt, which also held a curved dagger. Tucked under one arm was a plumed, open-faced helmet. He had a broad chest, and he moved with a certainty and grace that implied muscles well-used to bearing the weight of his armor.

"You must be the healer," he said, bowing with one hand flat against his heart. He had an accent that Delyssa did not recognize, but placed him from somewhere far from Gra'tan. "My name is Vael, a Knight-Errant of the Order of Saint Barassa. It is my honor to escort you to the Guild, where you shall meet our companions."

She bowed back, a little uneasily. "I am honored as well, Sir Vael. I am the acolyte Delyssa," she said, unsure of if she was meant to follow any particular etiquette. For a moment, Delyssa wished that she could had had weeks to prepare, to learn every nuance and protocol, instead of having her life upturned overnight. Then she and Vael both raised their heads from their respective bows and their eyes met, and those thoughts -- along with several others -- fled from her mind.

Vael straightened. "I find it a circuitous path through the city to reach the Campaigner's Guild from here, and daylight is already breaking. Might I suggest that we depart, my lady?"

Delyssa swallowed. "I shall follow your lead, sir."

The paladin shook his head. "I would ask that you walk beside me, so that we might speak as we walk."

He held out one upturned hand to help her down the last step. Delyssa hesitated. For the first time, she felt a little self-conscious at a physical touch. Resisting the urge to wipe her hand of any sweat that may have accumulated there, she took his hand and stepped forward. Like Kruit, Vael's palm was calloused, and Delyssa felt a single scar across the width of the paladin's palm.

She stepped down beside him. He was a head and a half taller than her -- not just tall, but long, she noticed. If he was any less muscular as he was Vael would have been considered lanky. He released her hand and, with another gesture, stepped out into the Street of Souls.

Delyssa was unused to the feel of the ground beneath her new moccasins. They were partway between her usual bare feet and the wooden sandals that sufficed when required, her only previous footwear. The roads of Gra'tan were rarely cobbled, mainly hard dirt packed in tight after centuries of traffic, and Delyssa could feel each pebble and stone, muted through the leather of beneath her soles. She noticed that Vael wore high riding boots without any spurs.

"Have you ever been on a quest before, Delyssa?" Vael asked as he led her across the street and down an alley of narrow stairs.

She shook her head. "No. In fact, I only learned yesterday that I was to be sent out with you. This is all very new to me, I'm afraid."

Vael studied her for a moment, then shrugged. "Everyone has their first adventure sometime, as they say."

"You don't seem particularly concerned that your healer is a novice," said Delyssa.

"Well, we were told when we made our request with the Guild that most of the seasoned clerics were with the Gra'tani soldiers near Dertath. It is not a surprise to me that we are to be accompanied by someone just starting their journeys. As for concerned..." He shrugged again. "I possess some healing talents of my own, and my companions are fortunately a potent combination of skilled, competent, and cautious. And as you might imagine, we shall do our best to make sure that you have as little to do as possible. A busy healer makes for a broken party, after all."

"Is that another adventurer's proverb?" Delyssa asked.

Vael chuckled, a clear, ringing laugh. "Just an observation, though I admit it does sound like a turn of phrase. Perhaps I was meant to be a bard. Though I am not sure I possess the talent with my fingers. For playing," he added, glancing towards her. Delyssa had an instant of picturing Vael's fingers entering both her mouth and below, and almost stumbled as she felt a sudden heat growing inside her.

Vael seemed not to notice. They continued down through the turns of the alley and crossed another street, narrower than the Street of Souls, but busier as shopkeepers began to prepare their stalls for the day's business.

"If you need armor, I am sure that Guild can provide something adequate," Vael said as they stepped around a mule-drawn cart.

"I have no need," Delyssa quickly said. "I am warded against attacks, though I may not be extremely useful in a fight, I'm afraid."

"Very well. I trust your magics, but I would also ask that you either keep your distance from any battle, or stay close behind me."

"Agreed. That's the advice I was also given, more or less. Though I know how to use this staff," she said, trying not to sound puerile.

They crossed through another alley, more steep stairs leading downhill. They emerged into another street, Delyssa aware of the impassive and imposing gaze of the two city guardsmen who lurched by on patrol. They turned right down the avenue and followed it for some time, before turning again to the left down a long boulevard that cut through the heart of the city.

"You have been to the Guild Hall before?" said Vael, and Delyssa wondered at his tone -- not quite a question, a statement seeking confirmation.

"No," she replied. "Never. In fact, the only times I leave the temple is the short walk down to the plaza to the market stalls. I know little of the rest of the city."

"Is that so? You have been matching my step since we departed the Temple. I have not had to lead you anywhere."

Surprised, Delyssa looked down at her feet, as if expecting some explanation from her automatic ambulation. After a few paces she shrugged. "When I was a girl, I lived on these streets. Some things are not as forgotten as I thought, it seems. Those were terrible times that I tried to cast out of my mind, but 'the body remembers' as Mother Corporeal always says."

As if summoned out of her dim remembrance, they were suddenly surrounded by a press of urchins, lean and hungry looking that nonetheless grinned toothy and toothlessly at the pair. Instinctively, Delyssa knew that they were a circumstantial target for charity, as the gang traced their steps back towards the Street of Souls and the temples that gave meals to beggars. Shaking herself out of her shock, she reached for the coin-purse tied to her belt. There was half of a heartbeat where she was back on the street as a child and felt her fingers tighten around the pouch, a regression to the time where all that you had you kept tight to yourself. Then she glanced over at Vael. The paladin was crouched among the crowd of urchins, smiling and laughing quietly with them. They were fascinated with his armor and shield. Delyssa saw that he was passing out silver halves, placing one into the cupped hands of each child. After getting the coin, some of the urchins scattered away, scampering down another alleyway, hollering in that quick, incomprehensible tongue of the very young. Surprisingly, most stayed with the paladin, who eventually had to disentangle himself from grubby hands that held onto his hair, beard and clothes.

Delyssa opened her coin purse and began to distribute her own silver, trying not to feel guilty about her initial impulse. It was so easy to be charitable from the comforts of the temple; here in the sandy streets the air was different, and the weight of possessions was a far greater burden. Already, so soon after stepping out from her cloister, there was the instinct that every gift given was a sacrifice. Delyssa took a breath and let those feelings out with an exhale. The next few minutes she spent making sure that each urchin left with at least one coin from her or Vael: enough, she knew, to buy a pair of sandals or clothes, or several night's food and drink. To the smaller children, she sneaked an additional silver half. She knew that they would be preyed upon by bigger kids or petty gangsters, so they needed a coin to hide and a coin to be stolen.

"Go to the Temple of Shevlana," she told the crowd. "Beds, hot meals, cool air. You'll be welcomed there." They nodded and scampered off, bare heels kicking up dust in the alleyway as they ran to catch up with the others. She straightened and met Vael's eyes. He was smiling again, a soft expression that somehow fit with his warrior's body. With a gesture, he motioned for them to continue walking.

"I admit that I do not know much about your goddess' religion," he said after they had crossed the next street.

Delyssa looked up at him. "Really? Nothing?"

A faint blush crept over the paladin's features. "Well... I have heard rumors about some of your practices, but I find many of them difficult to believe."

She laughed. "They are likely true, Vael. Shevlana's domain is that which is pleasurable. Beauty in all its forms, love of the spirit and worship of all that the body is capable of: fertility and birth, of course, but also the more... physical pleasures." The explanation was one long-since committed to memory, meant to explain the religion in as brief and pleasant terms as possible to visitors and newcomers to the temple. Even this mild description, Delyssa saw, caused Vael to swallow and turn forward away from her, as if in contemplation.

"Likewise," she broached, "I'm afraid I have little knowledge of Saint Barassa."

Vael waved a hand. "It is a minor order, with little presence in this part of the land. Barassa was a soldier in the Quiet Host who left the legion to search for a meaning to her violence. Her adventures were long and trying, so I will not relate them here -- we are nearing the Guild in any case -- but our order honors her quest, and continues the search in her memory."

"Continues the search?" said Delyssa. "So she never found an answer?"

Vael glanced at her, then down, and was quiet, and the rest of the walk was made in silence.

#

The Campaigner's Guild Hall was a building unlike any other in Gra'tan. Where most construction was of sandstone and baked clay brick, made into square houses, ziggurats and the infrequent tower, the Guild Hall was a massive coliseum of granite and marble, a lavish and ostentatious landmark with the singular flaw of the reputation of the adventurers that it housed. Built with the riches accumulated over centuries of returning campaigners (a smaller number than those that initially departed), the Guild Hall stood facing a bustling market square of vendors who directed their frenzied barking to the gold-laden adventurers that came and went from the building.

Even the subdued morning light was enough to make the marble edifice of the Guild Hall walls nearly blinding to look at directly, so Delyssa focused her attention on the various characters that filled the square, people entirely unlike the typical Gra'tani. The stalls were already busy even at this early hour, and Delyssa could not help but stare at some of inhuman people that milled throughout the crowd. There was a pair of fair-skinned, pointy-eared elves that stood beneath paper parasols, cutting above the chattering masses with laughter that sounded like chimes. A tall figure brushed past Delyssa and she realized with a start that their feather cloak was actually a pair of wings folded against its body -- even more, what she assumed to be a strange, owl-shaped helmet was actually the person's head, which swiveled around to chatter an apology to her through a yellow beak.

Seeing Delyssa's shock, Vael stepped a little closer. "You'll get used to it," he said. "You'll find that there's all sorts in the world."

A bald merchant stepped into their path, dressed in voluminous, flowing robes of a dozen colors with a live iguana wrapped about his shoulders. The merchant grinned and the lizard stared blankly.

"Talismans!" the merchant called between quick glances behind him as he walked backwards before the pair. "I sell protective talismans, charms, wards! Save yourself in the wild! They are not cheap, but cheaper than your life, eh?"

Getting no reaction from Vael, the merchant turned towards Delyssa. "Going out on your first quest, girl? A hireling, perhaps? You'll need something to protect you from the dangers of the world!" The merchant extended his arm outward, and dozens of small charms dangled from bead chains over his wrist. "Bring the blessing and favor of the gods with you. Any of these holy symbols will bring you fortune!"

They stepped past the merchant. "I am a servant of Shevlana," Delyssa coolly said. "My body is my holy symbol."

The merchant paused for a moment before breaking out into a harsh laugh. "Hah! Maybe you want me to drop you a coin instead then, eh girl? Must be nice when all your goddess asks of you is to spread your legs!"

Delyssa continued forward with two more stoic strides until she realized that Vael was no longer beside her. She turned just in time to see him step towards the grinning merchant. For a heartbeat she thought he would strike him. The merchant must have thought so too, because his grin vanished and he shrunk away from the paladin. Instead, Vael drew himself up, a hand taller than the other man, and leaned close.

"Apologize," Vael growled.

Delyssa could only see his back, but something in his expression made the merchant pale. He leaned around Vael and stammered something to her. She could not even make out his words, but she didn't care, and turned back towards the Guild Hall.