Heart of Dorkness Bane Eighteen - Fear

Bane Eighteen - Fear

Bane Eighteen - Fear

I think the date was going pretty well. Es and I were having fun, at least. We poked around the shops and stared through windows and I spent a few coins on so street-vendor food that Es and I ate on so convenient benches along the roadside.

Of course, we werent there just to have fun (even if it was fun, and that made it all rather distracting). While Es sat next to , I checked out Mom and Semper.

The two were doing pretty much the sa thing we were, though they probably looked a lot better doing it.

When Es and I poked our heads against the windows of so shop the people inside looked a bit annoyed, even if we were dressed like nobles of so sort.

When Mom and Semper paused before a shop the people within stumbled over themselves to present them their best stuff. Mom and Semper mostly ignored them, which only seed to encourage the rchants.

I think this is going pretty well so far, I said.

Es nodded. Yeah. They have their arms hooked together.

Does that an anything? I asked.

Well, its halfway to handholding, isnt it? Es asked with a scandalous gasp.

Our eyes t, then we both giggled before jumping back to our feet. I grabbed Ess hand, which made her giggles hitch, then pulled her after . Co on! We need to start the next part of the plan!

We dont have a plan! Es hissed.

I grinned back at her. Then we make one up.

The market street opened up onto a square smack in the centre of Santafaria. One side of the square had the citys castle walls looming above it, and there was a road past that which led straight to the waterfront.

Stalls had been set up along the edges, and there was a quaint fountain in the centre with sides low enough that people could use it as a seat if they didnt mind having the occasional bit of water spritzed onto them. To one side of the square was a huge building, the biggest Id seen in the city.

It was maybe a quarter the size of the main keep at the castle and made of wood varnished in pale yellow. What is that? I asked.

I dont know, Es said. Oh, theres a sign.

She pointed next to the big double doors at the front of the building to a copper plaque which read the Yellow Exchange in huge embossed letters. Is it a fish market then? I asked.

Aye miss, it is, soone said from nearby. A middle aged woman tending to one of the stalls smiled at the two of us. Thats where the days catch is auctioned off. Then its carted off to whoeverll salt and cure and cook it.

Oh, thank you, I said.

Its more than that. The fish auctions only half. The other half is a proper auction. Once a week theyll have all sorts of goods displayed and sold.

Like magical items? Es asked. Or books?

Books, yes, but magical items, well, maybe once in a while, she said with a grin. Mostly its rchants selling goods to each other, sotis nobles. Horses and donkeys, carts and carriages. Big casks of wine from Montele and ga from the Vulture Plains. Say, do you girls want so roasted nuts?

I fished out a pair of smaller denomination coins and handed them to the lady in exchange for a small bag of nuts. Mostly it was as thanks, I didnt want to eat too much before we went to whichever restaurant wed stop at.

The big auctions on today, if you two are looking to attend, the lady said. Are you two from here?

Were from around here, kinda, I said. Es heres from Montele.

Es nodded and reached over to pluck so nuts from my bag. She didnt let go of my hand, but that was fine. Thats nice. Visiting the city with so family then?

Yeah, were on a date! I said.

The womans face worked through a few emotions so fast I couldnt read them all. Oh. Thats nice, she said.

Um. Okay. Thanks for the information then! I said before leaving with Es in tow. She went weird, I said.

I think shes a follower of the Three, Es said. She had a dallion.

Oh, I said. The Three were pretty popular nearly all over, as far as I knew. The Goddesses of maidens, mothers and grandmothers everywhere. Even in the more... won-unfriendly nations they were still very much respected. The priestesses were nearly all trained as midwives and such. Not that I had to worry about that kind of stuff. Well, whatever. Wheres Mom and Semper?

Oh, theyre over there, Es said while pointing across the square.

Mom and Semper were next to a nice stall being operated by a noblewoman selling fresh flowers in little clay pots. Mom was probably the one who was more interested, though it was hard to tell how Mom felt from so far away, her expression was always very aloof.

We did have a nice garden at ho, and Mom liked flower language stuff and all the symbolism that went with it.

Do you want so flowers? I asked Es.

Um, sure? Es said, uncertainly. I dont think Im very into flowers. Theyre pretty enough, I guess. Id rather a book on flowers.

Oh, but we could give Semper so flowers to give to Mom. Mom knows what different flowers an, so if we give Semper flowers that an I love you and she gives those to Mom....

Ess mouth ford a cute little o of understanding. I see, that could work!

I nodded and pulled her along towards another flower stall. There were a few of those, and I noticed that we werent the only ones out on dates. Maybe it was the pleasant weather and the season, but I think a good half of the people in the square were on dates of their own.

We should probably go to another flower stall, not the sa one that-- Es cuts herself off even as I felt soone approaching .

We were near the fountain, in the centre of the square. It was normal for people to co close, but this felt different.

I turned and stared as a woman, maybe in her mid thirties, lood over . She had so companions with her, four more won of various ages. They wore white gowns, simple and unadorned, with only a large necklace as decoration. It was the symbol of the Three.

Uh, hi? I asked.

She glared at and Es, her focus shifting to our hands. Disgusting, she said. And you parade yourself out here in public where anyone can see your degeneration.

Im sorry, what? I asked, utterly confused. Was it because my skin was exposed? I was a little self-conscious about it. My skin was very pale and riddled with thin blue veins, the clear sign that I was a cultivator of dark magic.

I wished that the veins I had were more like Moms, a deep royal purple instead of blue. Maybe Id grow into it though.

Won lying with won, here, in the city so close already to the depravity of the Dark Lady, the priestess said.

I blinked. Wait, this isnt about being a dark-magic cultivator? I asked.

Is it true? she asked. Her voice was pitched to travel. She might have been talking in my general direction, but she wasnt talking to . I glanced around, confused. A lot of the couples and others around had stopped to stare. This fine city of Santafaria risks enough, does it not? And yet here you are. This, everyone, this is why we need the teaching of the three!

Hey now, what are you talking about? I asked right back. I could talk loud too.

Are you not enamoured with this other woman? she asked.

Of course I love Es, shes my friend, I snapped.

And are you not, even now, dating a woman despite being a woman yourself?

A few gasps sounded in the crowd. Was it really that taboo? Well, technically, yes, but its just a prac--

Have you no sha? To be so public with your ridicule of what the Three have claid is right and just? This is why the Three guide us, her priestesses, to teach young ladies how to beco proper citizens and mothers and matrons. Where is your mother who taught you to be this way? she asked.

This was... a recruitnt drive? I think they were trying to drum up support. It was what so of the books Id read said you had to do if you wanted more power. Pick a group that was relatively small, then vilify them and encourage others to back you up with promises of pushing that group down.

Insulting my Mom though, that was a bit of a mistake.

The air cooled.

It was only noticeable because of how sudden it was. The woman took a deep breath to continue her rant, then let it out in a shudder. There was a plu of foggy vapour that ca with it.

The way the world darkened was far more subtle, but no one missed it.

Clouds ford above in rapid, roiling waves, black as pitch and heavy with storms. Every shadow in the courtyard grew longer, then the shadows started to whisper and writhe, as if they desperately wanted to be more than re black stains on the ground.

Mom was standing next to the priestess.

The woman might have been taller than , but she had nothing on Mom who sohow lood above her as if the woman were an ant next to an obsidian pillar. That, Mom said and the word was heard by everyone in the square even if she didnt raise her voice. No animal dared to make a noise, including the humans. I noticed that a number of people had fallen to their knees and so looked like they were fighting a crushing weight.

I didnt feel anything of the sort, and I dont think Es did either. But then, it was mom, if she had the ability to squish people with her sheer presence, then shed probably honed that into a precise weapon of its own.

Is my daughter you are talking to, little nobody who serves the Three. Would you care to repeat your grievances to my face? I would love to hear them. Perhaps Aida, Allegra, Alisa and I can discuss things over tea, like properly civilised goddesses, rather than scream at each other in the public square.

D-dark goddess, the woman managed through clattering teeth.

Yes? Mom asked.

The woman fainted.

Mom stared at her for a mont, then she sighed. And to think there was once a ti when every God and Goddess had a better class of servant. Are you well, Valeria?

Hmm? Oh, yeah, I was gonna buy so flowers.

Oh? That sounds nice. They have red carnations from Toncia here. You should bring so ho for Felix. Mom made that little sound she made when she was happy, and the storm receded, the shadows slunked away from the renewed sun, and the air ward itself up once more. But not so fast that anyone might think it all a dream.

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