To Save the World...

Chapter 16

"I still can't believe that's really him," Darvin noted, gesturing to Tavin up ahead. Tavin was crouched in a group of children, making funny faces at them. "I mean. That's Messor Vitavi?" The kids laughed and made silly faces back.

"Yes," Musara said. She looked at Darvin with eyes free of blood and smiled. "Yes, it's really him."

"He was washing our dishes! And our clothes!"

"Messor Vitavi is known for honoring service," Jez replied thoughtfully. "Makes sense he'd choose to serve while he's here."

"He was always cooking and serving our meals, after the cook left the temple!"

"Messor Vitavi is known as a god of abundance," Musara replied. "He's our provider."

"And don't forget he was a guard at the temple," Ivorisa added. "Isn't it a little odd that he was guarding his own temple?"

"He is our protector," Jez said with a shrug. "While he was a temple guard, and also on this journey, he was protecting us."

"Well, he did guard his own altar, too," Musara added quietly. The image of a pile of ash on the temple's floor flashed across her mind.

"You said... he'd lead us to the One Who Must Die," Jez said, watching Tavin swing the children in circles and toss them into the air, only to catch them and place them gently on the ground. "But, all he's done all morning is play with the kids in the marketplace."

"He will," Musara said. "He said we need to return to Karst, first."

"Then why are we still here?" Darvin asked. "Why aren't we heading to Karst?"

Tavin walked up, panting slightly, a few children still clinging to his hands, tugging at him. "We are. We're simply waiting for the caravan to be ready."

"Caravan?" Ivorisa asked.

"We're taking a caravan?" Darvin asked at the same time.

"Yes," Tavin replied. As he allowed himself be pulled back to the gaggle of kids, he added, "It's faster!"

Jez leaned in to murmur to the guards, "Plus, it lets Musara finish recovering her strength."

"Oh."

"Of course." Both Darvin and Ivorisa cast glances to where the priestess sat, legs swinging idly as she watched Tavin play with the children. Her face's pallor had been replaced with a healthy shine. Not a trace of blood could be seen on her lips or leaking from her eyes or nose.

"I think the biggest question here is: why did he wait so long to heal her?" Darvin asked quietly. "She almost died last night."

Musara tore her gaze from Tavin to look at her companions. "I can hear you, you know." She swiveled her body to face them squarely. "I asked him that, too. He said, of all the places we visited and all the people we healed, the ones we inspired the most faith in were in Gotha, Ovdin on Orlin, and here in Tillek."

"Where we went when you were sick," Jez said quietly.

Musara nodded. "He said, since even in the face of certain death, I did not stop proclaiming Messor Vitavi's goodness, others were moved. It inspired the sick and the sick at heart. It opened them up to hope and faith again, which allowed him to heal them all the more than simply removing a disease or soothing a burn." She sighed and admitted quietly, "It was hard, though. Painful. I questioned a lot. I cried myself to sleep more than I care to admit. He said those were the hardest times for him not to reach out and heal me."

"The priestess is back!" The guards at the gate turned and spread the call to those in the city as the wagon with Musara, Tavin, and the others entered Karst. "Alert Lord Arden—High Priestess Musara and her companions have returned!"

"The priestess is back?" excited townspeople asked. "She said she'd return with Messor Vitavi! Messor Vitavi is here!"

Eager people lined the street as the wagon passed, everyone craning to catch a glimpse of their god.

The people surged into the street behind the wagon, following it all the way to Lord Arden's manor, shouting and singing praises to Messor Vitavi.

Musara paused to thank the driver as the wagon pulled away, the crowd parting for its passage, then swirling closed again. She looked at the others with her, smiled, and turned to the crowd.

"High Priestess?"

Musara turned.

"Lord Arden requests an audience with you and everyone with you."

Musara glanced over to Tavin, who nodded. She sighed and nodded at the servant. As she followed the servant inside, guards flanking the group, she cast one last look at the crowd as they pressed closer, eager for a glimpse of Messor Vitavi.

The audience hall was filled with cots, people coughing and groaning as they lay, caught tight in the grasp of the plague. Attendants, faces covered, milled around the sick, offering water and food or even just a comforting hand.

Lord Arden carefully stepped away from a cot as he saw the companions enter the room.

"Priestess Musara! You've returned!" He looked at Musara, flanked by Tavin and Jez, with Darvin and Ivorisa in close attendance. His face fell. "You... said you were going to bring Messor Vitavi with you... Word of your works in the other towns reached us here. I gathered the city's sick here, so Messor Vitavi could heal them upon his arrival. But, I see you have only returned with the same people you left with."

"Messor Vitavi has always been here, Lord Arden," Musara replied. "And I did bring him."

"Yes, I know Messor Vitavi is always with us," Lord Arden replied quickly. "But, you went out to seek him in the flesh. Did you not find Messor Vitavi incarnate?"

Musara smiled. "Yes, we did."

"Then where is he? Did he choose not to come to Karst?"

"He's right here." Musara gestured to Tavin.

Tavin stepped forward, smiling at the younger man. "Hello, Lord Arden. You have been doing well in caring for your people. Thank you for personally seeing to the treatment and care of the sick in your city."

"You?" Lord Arden stared at Tavin. "But. You're the temple guard who brought me my father's ashes!"

"Yes." Tavin nodded. "And I heard your prayer later that day, for mercy for your father and strength for yourself to support your brother, whom you assumed would take your father's place."

"We'd just placed my father's ashes into the niche of the garden wall. Everyone had left. No one was with me then," Lord Arden whispered.

"I was." Tavin smiled at him. "I also know you asked for wisdom and compassion to lead the people, once you were selected to be the next lord of this city."

Lord Arden dropped to his knees and bowed his head. "Messor Vitavi, our lord and our life. Please, take this and rule us here." He pulled the silver circlet from his sandy hair and held it out. "Take your rightful place at the head of your people."

Everyone in the room froze; all the attendant turned and looked at their lord kneeling to the temple guard. A few hacking coughs broke the silence.

Tavin stepped forward and took the silver circlet, looked at it briefly, then placed it firmly on the young man's head. "I did not come among my people to rule over them." He crouched beside Lord Arden and raised the young man's head, looking him in the eye levelly. "I chose you to lead my people. Lead them with the mercy, compassion, and wisdom you have found. Know that I am always with you." He took the young man's arm and gently brought him back to his feet.

"If you won't accept the lordship," Lord Arden asked slowly, "will you at least extend your healing grace in this place? Do for us what you've done for Lurth, Duns Veloor, Manark, Mar Chennel, and the others?" He opened wide his arms, gesturing to the sick gathered in the room. "Everyone here waits, in the hope of your healing mercy."

Tavin looked around the room slowly, letting his gaze rest briefly upon each person. After he returned his gaze to Lord Arden, he replied softly, "Yes, they all shall be healed. But, there is something I must do first." He looked out the window, to where the smoking mountain glowed as it cast forth more molten rock.