A Tale of Three Chapter 2: Petra and the Priest

“Light of the World Tree, guide us”, Galiene prays as Alistan’s blade lights up, revealing the dark corridor below, the Half Elf brushing away her oaken brown hair.
“Thanks, should make this place much easier to trod” Alistan said admiring the magic imbued upon his sword, the green light of her magic always had a soothing effect on him, though now the feeling was mixed with regret.
“You don’t have to come with me, I took the job to go down here and you’ve already helped a lot…”
“Oh can it, Ali” Galiene shot back, her green eyes piercing Alistan “We’ve had that conversation before, I want these kidnappings solved as much as you or The Long Table. You can hog all the glory from it if that’s what you want. You are looking to impress the heralds right?”
They stepped further down, ending in a narrow hallway. The green light shining down revealed a room up ahead.
“It’s not about the glory, it might get ugly down there. Just don’t want you to feel obligated out of any lingering ....”
“For a man who can’t stop getting himself in danger for others,” She interrupted, “you just don’t get it when others want to do the same for you, do you?”
Alistan was happy the green light hid his blush. Galiene really did him a favor as they would never have found this place if not for her shrine and magic. Luckily they knew of a hair pin the latest victim had, engraved with her name ‘Petra’. A bit of searching and some locate object spells brought them here.
 
They entered the chamber, which looked to be an abrupt end except:
“Here, look at this, what do you reckon this is?” Alistan said, tracing the emblem of a clawed hand grasping an orb with his sword.
“The symbol of Arcarost, the Dragonlord” she said, her eyes falling on the emblem, was it giving off a red glow or was it a reflection of the light?
“Must be a cult doing the kidnapping, what do you reckon they want with those people?”
“Nothing good I bet, reckon there’s a hidden door here?” Alistan said, casting light around them with his sword.
“One way to find out” Galiene said looking around the room, “Make it a race? Loser buys drinks after we’re done.”
“Deal”, Alistan’s eyes glistened as they shook on the deal and started their search.
Galiene suddenly spoke up “Are we going to talk about this by the way?”
“About what?”
“Us”
Alistan paused his search for a moment
“Galiene, I had to”
“Oh to the Pit with that Alistan” she didn’t raise her voice but the light on Alistan’s sword became brighter as she said his name.
“Your family made a deal with a Fey king and now that your brother died you can’t commit to a relationship?”
“Me becoming heir changed everything, I barely understand the deal and what I know of it…” Alistan turned to look at her “I can’t pull you into that”
“Yeah, you’ve said that. You really are a piece of work: ending things when we clearly still… ah fuck, where’s this switch! You think there even is one?”
 
Alistan happily took the chance to change the subject “There should be one, this cult in Hillfield a few years back had one, real nasty one to find and ah” Alistan stopped as he pressed on a loose tile in the wall, opening the wall up into a corridor going deeper underground.
“Lucky shot,” Galiene said upon seeing Alistan’s proud grin, “also why would a cult to Morrhim be the same as one to Arcarost?”
“Whatever, you owe me a drink. I never said it was a cult to Morrhim, I’ve told you that story before?”
“When we first went out, remember? I asked about the Monastery in Hillfield. And, at your friend’s party, Luke was it? It was his idea to use the incense to find it. Oh and this time …”
“Alright alright, understood. I’ll stop telling stories from our journey to Keralon.”
 
“Don’t, the look on your face when I explained cleric healing doesn’t work through kisses is a favorite memory of mine”
“Really? I always thought it was the one where I… shit” Alistan yelled the last word as he was startled by an eruption of light, a dark red glow now permeating the hall, Alistan reflexively swung his sword at the carved dragon heads, from which the light emanated, that glow and statue repeating itself up ahead.
 
Galiene had to hold back her laugh “No Alistan, pretty sure that’s not my favorite. But this is good, we are getting close to where we need to be”
She came up to him and touched his hand holding the sword.
“This won’t be necessary anymore” and the light spell on his sword faded, the red glow devouring the green light, then she added with a chuckle “and it’s safer if you keep sharp objects away for a bit”. She went on ahead and Alistan followed, mildly embarrassed.
 
“What’s that chanting? Do you understand it?” Galiene whispered a bit later as they approached a chamber baked in red light.
“Yeah, it’s draconic. Chanting to Arcarost and … shit, they’re going to sacrifice someone.. Let’s go” and he charged ahead as he drew his sword
“Let’s” Galiene said, as she followed, unstrapping the mace from her belt.
 
—--
 
The ritual chamber was lit in the same dark red glow that they encountered earlier. Which as the battle raged on the light did a lot to hide the blood on the altar and now on the floor and walls. Galiene hit a cultist with her mace as Alistan was fighting the now last remaining cultist and what could be described as a Half Dragon, if that meant a mutated elf with scales and malformed wings, the result of an interrupted ritual. She did have the hairpin, clearly they were trying to transform their victims. No time to waste, they had precious minutes left to reverse this curse.
 
“The Dragonlord has blessed us with this creation, and now it will tear your soul asunder and feed it to our lord” The cultist shouted at them as Alistan barely blocked a claw from ‘Petra’ yet the force still threw him back a few meters to land next to Galiene.
“I swear to God, why do I keep getting the ones that talk while fighting?” Alistan felt some blood trickle from his thigh, where a dagger found its mark scarcely a minute ago.
 
“Here, let me close that wound.” Galiene started but Alistan grabbed her hand before it got to his leg
“You’ve already used a lot of magic, you need to leave some to reverse her curse” he nodded at Petra, “Don’t worry about me, I still got something left. Just take out that loud cultist won’t you?”
“The end is nigh” the cultist shouted as he unleashed an evil cackle.
Galiene tightened the grip on Alistan’s hand as she looked him in the eyes, “I’ve got your back, let’s go”
And that filled Alistan’s heart and body with more strength than any spell as he charged at their foes. And he knew they would win.
 
—---
 
“Quick, can you save her?” Alistan shouted as he feverishly poured a healing potion down the mouth of the collapsed Petra. The scales were still covering more of her face as she laid there.
“Hold her up,” Galiene said as she grabbed her holy symbol and prayed “Irminsul, World Tree, allow through me, your might to repair this body and keep this soul among us. If it is your will”
“If it is your will” Alistan repeated as he saw a green glow emanating from the holy symbol. slowly overpowering the red glow of the chamber.
 
Despite having no talent for it, Alistan always admired the beauty of magic. When Ileas, Luke or Hayley pulled on the small parts of the weave there was a beauty to the purposeful complexity created by their Arcane magic. When Gael uses Primal magic, it is as if nature itself rises up: from the fiercest wind to the most serene lake, to perform its wielder’s will. But Divine magic really was something else, Galiene’s faith and commitment were made manifest, the World Tree granting this person life after all this cult had done to her. Divine power being made beautiful by the person channeling it.
Which made it all the more sad that Petra was the only survivor of the cult, the others were taken before her and were beyond the reach of Galiene’s magic.
 
 
“Thanks Carnwen,” Galiene said as the Halfling put a pot of stew on the table, and started pouring some on Petra’s plate. The curse was lifted yet her face still had some scales on it, a permanent reminder of the injustice inflicted on her, he also reckoned her hair wasn’t always red. Alistan’s mind however, wasn’t on his food nor Petra. The battle was harder than he expected, Galiene almost succumbed to a cultist dagger if not for Alistan giving her the cover to heal. And vice versa Galiene’s magic pushed him beyond limits he never knew were possible. Them working together made him regret his decision to end their relationship, but with Gideon’s death any future he has with anyone is dominated by his family’s deal with King Ulther.
“Ali”
He can’t pull anyone into that.
“Ali”
But maybe if he…
“ALI”
“What?” he suddenly found her green eyes aimed straight at him, expectantly.
“Petra here just said she has nowhere to go, where is your head at?”
Like how thunder and lightning are separated by seconds, the conversation he had seen but not listened to slowly flooded in. Petra was taken by the cult right as she arrived in Keralon, her belongings lost and family were sacrificed. She really does need a place to stay.
“Right, it might be best if you stay here for a while. At least until you get on your feet and find where you want to go. Or you can stay here and work for me? Carnwen and I would love the help”
“I would” Carnwen added, “And an extra pair of hands would maybe make him sit still once in a while and relax”
“Tell me about it” Galiene interjected, with a playful smile towards Alistan “Had to threaten him to make him sit still for a concert once”
“And I maintain they call the row in the back the walkway so people like me can walk around while enjoying your music. But you just had to get me front row seats.”
“Y-yeah” Petra croaked, her voice not quite back, watching Galiene and Carnwen laugh and take jabs at Alistan “stayin’ would be nice.”