Twilight's End

Part 7 - Piety

The Night Brotherhood's temple in Malakesh more resembled a fortress than a place of worship. Dark battlements clawed the sky, and what few windows Vessa could see set in the high black walls were little more than murder holes.

"Friendly folk," Del whispered as they meandered along the wide avenue that passed outside of the temple's forbidding entrance.

"They serve a god called Xeno of the Shadows. It's actually just about what I was expecting."

"Thoughts, then?"

Vessa's thumb brushed the strand of hair she had tied around her finger. There was a burning in her chest, an anger she hadn't felt for many years. "I've had enough," she said through gritted teeth. "We've been played like fools and threatened like children. Someone I care about could be killed because of this idiocy. I have a strong suspicion that the Night Brotherhood is behind everything. I'm going to walk up to that door and knock and demand to see the high priest so we can settle this matter."

"And if he doesn't give you the Eye?"

"Then I'll stick people with my swords until he does."

"And what if they don't even open the door?"

"Then I'll kick it down."

Del cocked his head, as if considering what she'd said. Then he shrugged. "Good plan."

"Let's go then." Vessa turned sharply from their slow ambling and strode up to the imposing door set in the temple's outer walls.

"Wait, we're really going to just ask to be let in?" Del asked incredulously, hurrying to catch up with her.

In response, Vessa began hammering  on the door of iron and black wood. "Del," she said as she continued her pounding, "how is it locked?"

Del placed his palm on the door and closed his eyes. "Sorcery," he said after a moment. "And not particularly complex."

"Good. Work on opening it."

A panel slid open at about head height. Vessa peered inside, nearly recoiling when she was confronted by a demon's leering face.

"I am the gatekeeper of the House of Xeno!" boomed the demon hollowly through a mouth that did not move.

A mask. "Gatekeeper. I must speak with your high priest."

"The Moonwarden is in seclusion, praying to dread Xeno! He asks our lord how to entreat Aradeth to return the sun so that the moon might rise once more. He cannot be disturbed!"

"That's just what I want to talk about, actually."

"The door shall remain closed!" the gatekeeper proclaimed with a note of finality and slammed the panel shut.

Vessa turned to Del. "Almost finished?"

"Done," Del replied, stepping back from the door.

Vessa heard a click and a grinding, and the temple's outer door began to swing slowly open. The number sticks are cast, she thought with a grin and slammed her shoulder into the wood, flinging the door wide. Its edge caught the scrawny gatekeeper as he tried to retreat, sending him sprawling in the dirt. Mewling with pain, he scrambled away from Vessa, raising little plumes of dust; when he glanced at her over his shoulder she could see the whites of his panicked eyes through the slits in his mask. She stalked forward and gripped a handful of his robes, hauling him to his feet, then shook him like a doll as he cried out in fear.

"Your high priest! Take me to him now, or by the Moon Mother's swollen belly, I'll pull this place down around your ears!"

"Calm, my child."

Vessa dropped the gatekeeper and turned towards this new voice. From the corner of her eye she saw the priest scuttle away from her, sniveling in terror, like she was in fact some demonic aspect that had crawled up from the abyss.

A gaunt old man in black robes stood in the arched entrance to the temple proper, watching her with mild curiosity. at her with wide, frightened eyes.

Vessa's hands itched with the desire to draw her swords, but she restrained herself. "You!" she cried. "I've come for the Eye, and while I'm here I'd like a word with that cunning little vixen who tricked me!"

"We do not have the Eye. I have already said the same to the Red Duke, and have had the Great Effulgence of Aradeth confirm my words."

Something in Vessa wavered. "You . . . have?"

The Moonwarden dipped his spotted bald head. "Indeed. Of course the duke assumed the Night Brotherhood would be the thieves. Like you, he did not understand the nature of our faith."

"What nature?"

The old priest sighed. "That there can be no night without the day. One begets the other. Aradeth and Xeno are brothers, and like all brothers they are bound by affection . . . yet are also locked in competition. In this instance, for the hearts of the people of Malakesh."

"So perhaps you stole the Eye to gain some advantage?"

Dark sleeves dropped away from bony arms as the Moonwarden raised his hands to the purple sky. "Look, my child. There is no day, but there is no night, either. The men and women who have swelled the ranks of our faithful have abandoned us. Whoever wields the Eye has cursed Xeno as much as he has Aradeth."

As much as he has Aradeth.

He . . . or she?

Del stepped up beside Vessa. "If you speak true, let us search your temple for the girl who first misled us."

The old priest opened his mouth to reply, but Vessa spoke first. "Sahm isn't here," she said softly, her thoughts racing down twisting corridors.

Del glanced at her sharply. "How are you so certain?"

Vessa tilted her head up, squinting into the discolored sky. "Because I know where she is. Come, we need to go speak with Malz."