A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind) (9 page)

She nodded even as a single tear welled out of the corner of her eye and slid down her cheek. As the tear touched the skin of my hand and dissipated across it so did some of my anger. ‘She deserves to die, and pay for what she has done!’
Came
the angry thought coursing through me as I suddenly felt resistance to killing her.

My hands tightened further around her throat as I asked, “Tell me why I shouldn’t end your worthless life here and now?”

“The children!”
She responded half choking, which caused me to see that I was practically strangling her to death.

I loosened my grip some and she gasped for air. Sensing that it was somehow wrong to kill her in cold blood I stepped back disgusted at myself and puzzled at her answer as well.

“The children?
What about these children?” I asked roughly.

Moving to a chair in the room she sat somewhat stiffly down onto it, as she felt at her throat with a hand.

“You were saying about the children?” I restated testily.

Looking back up at me she began, “After your father re
fused all of my advances I felt gravely insulted. I was young then and full of myself. I made up my mind to kill him and the woman that he had chosen over me. If he wasn’t going
to be mine, he wasn’t going to be anyone’s. You’ve seen this place and the living filth of its occupants! I loved it and all its unseemly passions with all my heart.”

I looked condemningly down at her, seeing through her words what had brought the end of all that I had held dear in life.

Crying softly she continued, “Which explains why I sacrificed two of my own children to the gods of this land. I did it myself, with these two hands! Do you know how real a curse can be? I only became aware of the curse my life had become after I ordered your father’s death and received back word of its completion. Instead of joy at the news all I felt was a crushing emptiness. I threw myself into the acts of selfish indulgence that this place has to offer, but there was no joy in any of it. No peace! I became self aware for the first time in my life of just how meaningless my existence had become. I looked at everything that I had done and I was overwhelmed by the grotesque monster that I had become. I couldn’t stand it! The willful slaughter of my own babies and your family haunted me day and night. I made up my mind to end it all. I went to one of the high balconies of the temple. I was balanced on the railing of the balcony ready to jump when a warm breeze blew the scent of a near
by flower to me. The smell of the flower overwhelmed me with its fragrance. It was the first thing I had truly sensed in the weeks of grayness and internal misery I had been going through. It got my attention like nothing else
had. It remind
ed me of the sweetness of spirit that I had lost. When you
live as I had done you find out very quickly that there are powers that go unseen in this world. There is evil. This place is a place dedicated to the worship of that evil. The dark spirits of this place dominate the people within it. They revel at our carnality and our lustful desires. They feed off our foolish sins and encourage the people of this place to greater extremes of depravity. Why do we do this? Why do we serve such dark masters? Theses dark spirits create nothing but havoc and suffering wherever they go. The seeds of impurity spill out of this place and others like it and infect all that surrounds it. As everything is reduced to self expression and selfish desires, kindness of spirit is lost and the only love remaining is love of self. I was an instrument of theirs. I allowed myself to be used by them to do unspeakable things. All this was made real to me, as I smelled the created purity of the flower’s scent. There was no hope left in me that anything could ever redeem what I had lost, until that flower reminded me that there is a Creator. A Creator that made everything to be good.
It was I that chose to use my beauty for my own selfish whims. It was I that made what was beautiful into a thing to be loathed. The smell of the flower let me know just how far I had fallen from the good creation I was created to be and I was about to jump, when a man’s hand appeared beside me as I stood on the railing. He asked me if I would like to step down. I asked him who he was because I had never seen him before and he did not look like a man who would frequent a place like the temple. He smiled and said,
‘I am the Son of the Creator and I would like you to look at that flower over there a little closer.’
I don’t know why, but I took His hand and let Him help me down. I followed the aroma to the actual flower and I was surprised. It was a single little blossom on a vine that was gnarled and almost broken off in places. I had assumed that the aroma was from the flowers planted by the temple ga
r
deners as there are many flowers around the temple, but none had I smelled for weeks except for this one. The vine clung precariously to the granite of a temple pillar. It wasn’t planted in the fertile ground of the courts below, but it sprang out of a crack near the top of the pillar. The flower was the only one on the vine and it was small, but it was beautiful. I leaned closer to look at it and smell it once more. Peering into the flower the colors faded and
were replaced with a reflection of my own face. Drawing back star
tled I turned to the man, who I hadn’t noticed standing there.
‘What is this?’
‘Treorna, the flower and the vine represent your life.’
He had replied.
‘You have rooted your life in a precarious spot and the paths you have taken and the decisions you have made have hurt you severely, but yet you are very precious and not something to be cast away. Won’t you change your path and follow Me and let Me plant you in a sure place and give you the nourishment needed to grow and flourish into who you were created to be?’
He had asked kindly.
‘Me?’
I asked unbelievingly.
‘Yes.’
‘
But I’m filthy and I’ve done things! Unspeakable things! How can
You want me after the things I’ve done?’
Looking at me He said, “What you have said is true. You are guilty of much and
deserve death, but I offer you life. Follow
Me and forsake your past deeds and do them no more and I will forgive you and give you a new future. One that will last for forever.”

She paused in her narrative. Still somewhat disbelieving of her story I said peevishly, “So I guess you didn’t jump.”

Smiling, she looked up at me and said, “No, Roric, I didn’t jump.” Feeling like a chastised little boy under her gaze I fidgeted waiting for her to continue.

She began again, “I accepted the new path offered to me and it completely changed me. I’ve never been the same since then. I could have walked away from the temple life there and then and enjoyed a peaceful life away from the darkness of this city. I got the feeling that although I had the Creator’s blessing to leave; there was more to be gained by staying here and helping to right the wrongs of this place. I’ve had to be wise about it though. The people here see on
ly what they want to see. The vision that you saw when you first came in here and saw me is still what they see because that is what I want them to see. It is safer that they see me as such so that the mission that I have undertaken has less of a chance of being found out.”

“This mission concerns children?” I asked.

Nodding her head she said, “Yes. You see contrary to what popular belief is there have been no sacrificial slayings here of newborns since I took over the high priestess posi
tion in charge of the sacrifice. Only a select few know of this however. The children are switched for fake doll babies before the ceremony and as high priestess I preside over the
ceremony as the head executioner. A position unchallenged by the other priestesses as they much prefer
someone else to perform the actual sacrificial slaying of their newborns rather than themselves. The real babies are smuggled outside of the city to an outlying farm that I’ve set up to care for them.”

Crossing my arms I stared at her, “I find it hard to believe that this has evaded the notice of the temple priests?”

“Oh, but it hasn’t. They have known about it from the beginning.”

At my puzzled expression she explained, “You see, it has been increasingly difficult in recent years to find girls and boys that have the sufficient innocent appeal that is craved by the temple’s most ardent financiers. As the societal life of the Zoarinian Empire has decayed, so has any semblance of morality in its youth. It may sound like an oxymoron, but innocent children are preferred by the temple priests, who are the first to initiate them into their new life of whoredom. Not surprisingly the children of this land are far from innocent when they come to the temple doors, which isn’t sur
prising given the hedonistic examples that their parents hand down to them. I suggested to the high temple priests that the continuing financial support of these grounds and festivities would be best served if the children meant for sacrifice were instead raised apart from the society, until such a time was needed for a renewal of the currently available flesh to be had. They would then be able to provide their most affluent backers with fresher product so to speak. The priests have been only too willing to provide assistance with their part of
the subterfuge. Most of the girls and boys here are riddled with diseases that are carefully concealed by the priests so that can they can continue to reap in the profits, but it is in
creasingly hard to disguise the sickened state of the temple consorts. The priests have decided to do away with all the current stock and bring in the children that I have rescued over the years to replace them, which will allow them to raise the rates because of the higher quality of the new stock. They couldn’t be happier with me or my plan, as it is they stand to make a lot of extra money. They will be collecting them from the farm at the end of the month, which is where you come in Roric.”

“Me?”

“Yes, I need someone to get those children to safety in the only place left that is safe for children to grow up, which is the Valley Lands. There they will have a chance at life and most importantly a chance at learning the Creator’s ways and His purposes for their lives. Will you do it Roric? Will you help me save these children?”

Not wanting to believe her, but not being able to deny the honesty and clarity with which she had shared her story I asked, “How would I go about doing it?”

Excited she rose from her chair and appeared much younger for a moment, “The wagons are leaving now that are
meant to pick up the children. I want you to intercept them, pick the children up at the farm, and get them safely to the Valley Lands.”

“I’m going to need help to accomplish all that, and this?” I said raising my chained hands, “Might pose a problem.”

“It has all been arranged. I have set up a plan to rescue you from the arena tomorrow; however, the rescue cannot be attempted before the second round of the games. Which means you will have to survive the first round! Can you do that?”

Looking at her wryly I noted her doubt of my capability for survival and I responded cockily, “I’ll make it to the second round.”

“Good!” She said smiling. “I have no doubt that with the Creator’s help you will.”

“What does the first round of the games consist of by the way?” I asked.

“I’m not sure they haven’t told anyone. All I know is that it involves animals and that it’s not expected that you will survive past the first round.”

“That sounds like fun. You’re sure no one suspects your ulterior motives concerning these children?” I asked.

I watched a darkness come into her eyes that made me sorry I had asked the question.

“Why should they? After all I sacrificed my own children on the altar didn’t I?”

Trying to soften the bitterness I saw in her face I said, “You were forgiven for that weren’t you?”

She nodded her head, “Yes I was, but I fear that I may never be able to quite fully forgive myself.”

Wanting her to answer one more question I had about tomorrow I asked, “How soon can I expect pursuit after I pick up the children?”

“A couple of days at the best.
You may have close pursuit the whole way though.”

“You know that your part in all this is likely to be ex
posed if you stay.” I said.

Giving me an evasive look she said, “I will do whatever needs done to get those children a better chance at life.”

Going to a cord hanging on the wall to her right she pulled it, which would summon the guards. Coming once more to stand before me she reached a hand up to touch my cheek and said, “Your mother and father would be very proud of you! I’m sorrier than you can ever know for taking them from you!”

The doors opened and as the guards entered I witnessed a transformation occur before my eyes as she spit out. “Get this arena rat back to his hole in the dungeons! I’ve had my fill of him tonight!”

Chuckling
the guards pulled me roughly from the room and back down the hall that we had come across earlier. The party was still going strong, but all I could think of was the cold cell waiting for me, and what awaited me tomorrow in the arena.

Later in my cell, which oddly felt like home to me, I stood holding the bars of the window, reflecting on every
thing that had happened. If one thing had become clear, it was that I was not in control of anything in my life like I
thought I had been, but there was an unmistakable order to the events happening in my life all the same.

Was the Creator really orchestrating my life, or had eve
rything been merely chance and circumstance? Giving up as I already knew the answer; I sank to my knees onto the cool dirt of the cell and did something I hadn’t done since I was a boy. Something my mother had insisted that I do every night, and even throughout the daytime. I didn’t know where to start as the prayers of my boyhood past seemed inadequate to say what I felt needed to be communicated. I decided to talk to my Creator normal like, as if He were a friend standing beside me.