Ahana glared at Nisse, who was staring at the ground, picking absently at it, his face flushed red in embarrassment. They were both sat down on the moss-covered cave floor, and both naked. They
had been making love… right up until the moment he had inexplicably frozen up, laid his hands on the ground and paused to think about something, as some small earthquake shook Inverxe. He then waited a few seconds longer, looking apprehensive and not doing much of anything, before seeming to finally remember that the bunnygirl was there, and looking back at her to find Ahana glaring furiously up at him, her face the very picture of incandescent rage.
At which point he’d hastily backed away, apologising profusely. It’d been a minute or so since then, and she had yet to say a word to him. He’d not been able to meet her gaze, and for her part, Ahana was focusing all her willpower on keeping her temper in check, lest she end up gouging out his eyes and ramming them down his throat. She had a feeling he’d not take that too well, and her attempt at seducing him wouldn’t exactly go as intended.
Still, her patience had its limits. She may be willing to prostitute herself for the sake of Victor’s plan, but even she had
some standards. No matter how well this guy might meet the criteria the assassin had requested, there was no way in hell she was gonna be able to fake a relationship with anyone with such a shitty attention span that a minor—and very fucking common—geological phenomenon could distract them from sex.
Was she more empathetic, she may have stopped to consider that for a people who lived their whole lives in a cave, earthquakes might be a pretty big deal, so it was actually fairly understandable that they’d take such matters seriously. And was she more intelligent, she might have picked up on the fact that Nisse had actually frozen up shortly
before the quake could be heard and felt. As it was, however, neither of these things occurred to her.
“So... what the fuck was that, then?” she finally snarled through gritted teeth. The savage winced at her tone of voice.
“Uh, well, um...” he stammered, glancing over at her nervously, still not daring to meet her eyes. He took a deep breath, attempting to compose himself, “it was a seismic wave generated by the breakup of the rock across a fault line, as a result of the accumulated pressure of two tectonic plates rubbing against each other for an extended period.”
“Stop using made-up words.” she snapped, “Also, I don’t give a damn about the stupid noise. I mean, why the hell did you decide that
that demanded your attention more than I did? Tremors ain't exactly unheard of down here, y'know. Inverxe is in no way renowned for its stability. Am I really so godsdamned dull that something which must be practically a daily occurrence was more interesting to you than fucking me?”
She moved closer, until she was right up in his face, and clamped one hand on his shoulder. She tried to smile, in a vain attempt at not completely losing her cool. She felt the muscles in her own face twitching, though, and Nisse looked positively terrified, so she imagined that she wasn’t doing too great a job, ”Do I really have to worry, every time we have sex, that you might just decide to wander off halfway through to go eat some fucking mushrooms or make a fancy new necklace or some shit?”
“No! No! It’s not like that, I promise.”
She shoved him to the ground, then straddled him, and leaned down until once again her face was practically touching his, “
Oh, really? Well, alright, fine, I’ll give you
one more chance, but if you so much as glance away from me this time, you can go find someone else to help you get the hell out of these tunnels and teach you how life works up on the surface. Got that?”
Instead of answering out loud, he simply nodded, then pulled her head down and kissed her.
***
The crowd turned to stare at them as they approached, likely because Sigmund, standing atop the lump of glowing, blue crystal which he was using as a podium, had looked out over their heads towards the healer and her companion.
“Ahana. Why are you dressed like that?” he asked, his smile looking a tad strained.
The bunnygirl held her greatsword in her right hand, the flat of the blade resting on her shoulder. Under her left arm, she carried the furred clothing she had been wearing until recently, all bundled up. Currently, all she had on were the vest and panties that were her undergarments, as well as a necklace and a couple bracelets on her left wrist. Dropping the clothes, she held up her left arm, showing off the jewellery
“You mean these? Nisse, here-” she flung her arm around the shoulders of the man by her side, and pulled him close, “-was generous enough to give me them. I’m a long way from looking at home down here, but he figured that any amount of jewellery would be better than none at all, y’know?”
“You know fine well that I wasn’t asking about the jewels.”
She grinned, and shrugged, “Just trying to fit in. Besides, I’m still showing less skin than most of this crowd of yours. And who are they all, by the way?”
The priest sighed, but allowed her to change the subject, and even managed to return to his usual chipper demeanour, after a moment, “They are those who've so far been willing to listen to Gal’skap’s truth. Not all of them are yet sure whether they are ready to fully embrace our religion, but we’ve made a very promising start. You're welcome to join us, if you'd like.”
“Oh. Great. That’s super. Glad to hear it… I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your sermons, though… have you seen Vic around?” Ahana asked, glancing about in case he happened to be lurking around nearby. She was not overly keen on listening to Sigmund’s preaching.
“Nope. Haven’t seen him since we split up earlier. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually, though, and you wouldn't be intruding at all, so please feel free to stay here while you wait on him; you and your new friend are both welcome. I was just explaining some of the finer points of our religion to these fine, upstanding people, and I'm sure the two of you would benefit from hearing those just as much as they would.” the priest said cheerily. The bunnygirl forced herself to smile.
“Ah, yes. How… lovely.” she knew she’d mess up the whole plan if she publicly admitted that she wasn’t actually all that interested in Sigmund’s religion, so Ahana tried her best to play along. Hopefully the tribesfolk weren’t very observant, because her best wasn’t exactly up to much.
“Glad to hear it. Now, where was-” the young priest cut himself off, being distracted by someone in the crowd.
Following his gaze, Ahana looked over to see that the buff lady who’d slit her throat earlier was holding her hand up in the air. When she saw that she had his attention, she spoke up, “High Priest, I apologise for the interruption, but… uh...”
The woman looked down at the ground, fidgeting awkwardly.
“Go on.” Sigmund said, his tone reassuring.
She looked up, making eye contact, “Didn’t you say that you would punish that woman for her lechery… for disrespecting the teachings of Gal’skap?”
The healer frowned. Not at the savage’s words, for they came as little surprise, but at her tone. It was almost pleading, and definitely apologetic. This wasn’t some loud and angry outburst, demanding action; she appeared to be rather uncomfortable asking this of Sigmund. The bunnygirl got the distinct impression that this athletic, imposing tribeswoman genuinely held enough respect for the holy man that she’d actually be upset if he should chastise her for her impatience.
It occurred to Ahana that she may have greatly underestimated Sigmund’s ability to work a crowd. She wondered how long he’d been speaking with them to have the villagers eating out of his hand like this.
“Yes, I did. And I suppose you’re right enough; we should get this out of the way now. It’s important that everyone realise that while the Mad God may be forgiving of many things, those who scorn his precepts cannot do so without receiving an appropriate punishment for their transgressions.” the priest turned to the healer, “Ahana… I’ve told you before that Gal’skap considers sex outside of marriage a sin, haven’t I?”
“You may have mentioned it once or twice.” the bunnygirl replied with a smirk.
“And do you know the punishment for committing that sin?”
“Not a clue… don’t hold back, though. As one of our God’s chosen elite, blessed by his power, I can’t exactly object to being punished for failing to live up to his expectations. Do your worst. If Gal’skap wants me to survive it, I’m sure I will.” Ahana made sure she was very clear in what she said here. She didn’t want Sigmund to worry that she might be pissed off if he attacked her.
With her healing ability being as powerful as it was, she couldn’t imagine him having enough power in that little book of his to actually slay her, and so this punishment could serve as proof to the crowd that the priest was willing to discipline anyone who sinned, even should they be his closest allies, whilst at the same time giving her another opportunity to demonstrate her inability to die, which she could easily claim as being a sign of the Mad God’s favour.
“Very well then. You may want to have your friend there back away, though. This is your punishment, after all, not his.”
“Oh, yeah. Stay back, Nisse.” Ahana removed her arm from around his shoulders and gently pushed him away, giving the young man a reassuring smile. He looked unsure, but backed off even so. She then tossed down b’Akphiyr on the ground and stood looking up at Sigmund with a smirk on her face and one hand on her hip, “Go ahead, 'High Priest'. I’m ready.”
He nodded solemnly at that, then held out his grimoire before him and dropped it. The book opened, and hovered in midair. The pages flicked quickly past for a moment before stopping. His hand was still outstretched, and he had splayed his fingers. For a moment, Ahana wasn’t sure why he was hesitating. Then she felt something odd. She wasn’t sure what exactly it could be. She’d never experienced anything like it.
Then the sensation intensified, and she realised what it must be, as a shiver ran through her body.
Cold. Her power had always kept her from feeling the cold in the past, yet now, for some reason, it was getting to her. Her eyes widened, and the smirk froze on her face. A few of the savages snickered, and she knew they must be able to spot the twinge of fear that was running through her. Though many of them were shivering as well. In their skimpy outfits, they were no more protected from the fall in temperature than she was, and Sigmund’s book seemed to be robbing the heat from everything in his immediate vicinity.
Ahana breathed out, and saw her breath form a cloud of vapour before her face. She was shivering more now, as the temperature continued to drop. A few of the tribespeople had stumbled back, far enough away that the heat drain was no longer affecting them. Most, though, had not moved. Perhaps they were just too focused on her impending punishment to pay much attention to their own situation, or perhaps they had some silly idea that enduring this chill would somehow prove their loyalty to the High Priest they seemed to so admire.
Ahana didn’t allow herself to back up so much as an inch, even though her instincts were all screaming at her to flee. Like it was nothing, the divine power of Gal’skap, being channeled through the eldritch tome of Sigmund Vrell, had stripped her of her resistance to temperature fluxuations. Could it do the same to her healing power? And if so,
would it? She hadn’t truly believed that the young priest’s god could harm her, until now, so hadn’t considered the folly of disregarding His sacred tenets or falsely claiming to represent Him.
Surely He would appreciate that her aura of healing could keep His
real priest safe… but would He care enough about that to overlook all that she had done to disrespect Him?
Her mouth was dry, and a cold sweat formed on her skin.
Then, Sigmund flicked his wrist, and a ball of flame leapt from his palm.
“Oh.” Ahana had just enough time to mutter, before it engulfed her head.
She screamed, and fell to the ground, writhing and shrieking in agony. She clawed at her face, head and ears, as if she could hope to tear the fire off. To the surprise of absolutely no one, this did not seem to be particularly effective. The bunnygirl wasn’t thinking, though. She couldn’t; not with her hair burning away, her skin charring and her eyeballs melting in their sockets.
She caught the occasional glimpse of orange and gold fire, battling to harm or heal her, respectively, though for the most part her eyes were too damaged to see anything. Wherever her divine conflagration healed her, Sigmund’s eldritch flames danced in its wake, devouring her flesh all over again.
She faintly heard the voices of others over her own screams and the crackling of the fires. Some gasped, a couple even cried out in alarm or horror, and at one point she was sure she heard Nisse yelling at someone to let him go, cursing them for letting her suffer like this.
And then it was over. It had felt like an eternity to the healer, though in reality the young priest's flames had lasted but a few seconds. For a couple moments longer, her head was enveloped in a comforting golden glow, as her own power restored her, then that too vanished.
She lay still, staring straight up at the roof of the cavern, no longer cold, but now with her whole body slicked with sweat. Her chest rose and fell noticeably as she took deep, gasping breaths. She was still trembling, though whether that was as a result of the cold, fear and pain, or due to her relief that that Gal’skap hadn’t nullified her ability to heal herself, she couldn’t say.
Then Nisse was beside her, looking down into her eyes with genuine concern on his face. He lifted her gently, just enough to lay her head in his lap. She noticed that his lip was bleeding, which she guessed must have happened when he’d been trying to reach her while she was burning. Perhaps someone had punched him to get him to shut up. She managed a shaky smile. Victor would be pleased; it seemed that this guy really had fallen for her.
“Would you all say that I was satisfactorily strict with her?” Sigmund asked the crowd.
“Yes, High Priest.” answered the woman who had called for the healer to be punished. Several others voiced their agreement.
“She’s still alive, though.” a gruff, male voice said. Not
quite complaining, but definitely less respectful of the holy man than the rest of them seemed.
“Ahana Varma has been blessed, so that she may always heal from any wounds inflicted upon her, no matter how severe.” Sigmund informed the tribesman, “Those golden flames you all saw were this blessing at work. As she was able to survive, it is clear that the Mad God still has some hope for her. Should He desire her end, all the healing in the world could not save her.”
The priest paused for a moment, then clapped his hands, and when he next spoke his voice had returned to its usual, cheerful tone, “So, with that out of the way, who wants to stick around for the rest of the sermon?”
Ahana didn’t look away from Nisse, or make any move to get up; she was content to just lie here for a time. She did, however, twitch one ear, paying more attention to the crowd, listening for departing footsteps. There were none.
“That’s wonderful.” Sigmund said happily.
Post Word Count: 2,796
Crawl #0004 Quest #2 Post #3 Word Count: 644/644 (1/3 of 1,934)
Crawl #0004 Quest #2 Total Word Count: (1,290 + 644 = 1,934 = 3/3 of 1,934)
Total
Community Quest Word Count: 5,100/5,000 (2,948 + 2,152)
Crawl #0004 Quest #2:
Complete
Community Quest:
Complete