Chronicles of a So-called Fire God (Abridged)

15. Sister Ava

Ava looked directly into my eyes and spoke with a soft, caring voice, which was completely betrayed by her cold, hard expression.

"There is no need to worry," she said.

She could sense my fear, possibly even smell it. I couldn't tell which. All three of us were trapped within a magical cage that Ava had created, not able to move a muscle, unable to defend ourselves. And yet Ava had made no move to kill either one of us. She just went out of the room into an ante-chamber. From the sounds, and eventually smells, the ante-chamber could only be a kitchen. After stopping our attack, and not immediately completing the task of killing us, Ava was now brazenly ignoring us and cooking bacon.

"I will free you in a moment," said Ava.

A moment later Ava returned carrying a plate of bacon. I could still hear the pan sizzling in the kitchen, presumably there was more bacon still on the pan. The smell of food was making me feel very hungry. After all, we had rushed out of the inn without taking time for breakfast.

With a wave of her hand, we were free. Torq fell over because he was over-balanced with holding his axe out to the side and Lestergrad was spared the indignity of also falling thanks to a nearby chair. As I was mid-stride I merely completed the step I was taking and stopped.

"I will not harm you unless you try to attack me once again," said Ava. "I was told to delay you, nothing more. And that objective is complete. You are free to leave."

All around the undead that were attacking us had crumbled to dust. There was nothing to show for the battle other than a hole in the roof and some broken furniture.

We all stood there, weapons ready, but Ava was true to her word. She simply picked up a chair, sat down and from the plate now on her lap began to eat the bacon she had cooked.

"Who instructed you to delay us?" asked Lestergrad.

"Kren the First," she replied.

"Never heard of him. Who is that?"

"He is the leader of this temple. The leader is apparently always called 'the First'," Ava said with a mouthful of bacon. "Anyway, they have gone away and are not coming back."

"Where have they gone?" I asked.

"I am not allowed to say even if I knew," said Ava. She picked up the last of her bacon and stuffed it in her mouth.

"What are you allowed to say?" I asked.

With grease from the bacon dribbling down her chin she asked, "What is this that I am eating?"

"You two stay here," Lestergrad said, "while I go and get some help. Keep an eye on bacon-lady."

While Lestergrad was out looking for the authorities, I had to find out more. "What is this temple?"

"This is a temple of Porthon. The Goddess of the Dead," said Ava.

"Who is Porthon? And what does she want with the dead? I thought you lot buried those no one cared to."

"That's what everyone thinks, but where else can one raise an army for free?"

Her words made me shiver. "An army?" I asked.

"That's what I heard Kren say." Ava was now licking her fingers. "This is wondrous. I must have more." She got up and wandered back towards the kitchen.

"Why do they need the Herald?" asked Torq.

With a dismissive flick of her hand over a shoulder, "Because of the imp." She continued to the kitchen.

My first thought was of the conversation Renkle had with us back at Derno Keep and about how he wanted the Herald. Then I had another thought, which frightened me a little.

After a few minutes, and another batch of tempting bacon, Lestergrad arrived with Lord Alric in tow. Alric, leader of the town militia apparently, brought with him a number of acolytes from the Temple of Light, the symbol on their chest was clear indication of that. Also with Alric were ten well armed men.

"Sister Ava? Can you come with me please?" said Alric. His men flinched when she stood and walked towards them. She handed me her plate as she passed me.

When they left, Lestergrad started looking through every door he could find in the temple. Torq and I were a little confused.

"What are you looking for? There's no one else here." I said.

"A back door. These cultists must have left through it while Ava kept us busy. Ah! Here. And there is a trail I can follow."

We followed Lestergrad out into a courtyard surrounded by a wooden fence. They'd even left the gate open. All around were items dropped from carts or packs. These Dead Keepers had left in a hurry. There were even two horses left tied to a post. Lestergrad set them free.

"They weren't riding horses. We can get our own," he said. It made sense, they were big, probably used for pulling carts, and there were no saddles to be seen.

Alric, who had followed us out into the courtyard, could see that we were planning to give chase. "I can spare some horses. Come with me."

Back at the front of the temple we saw that the Acolytes of Light were surrounding Ava and the armed men, on horseback, were around forming a ring around them all. Ava for her part in this parade stood meekly in the centre as innocent as a child.

Alric called to three of his men and ordered them to dismount. Each of them handed one of us the reins and then they rejoined the throng surrounding Ava.

With very few words exchanged we were on our way.