Arc 1, Chapter 12 

Precarious

Erik

I sat with Rhiannon in her tent as the rain continued relentlessly outside. Dawn was still an hour away, and the cold gnawed at my conscience. We were silent for the most part, with me breaking that silence whenever my nerves overwhelmed me.

“We should have taken her to your estate first. It will be winter soon and –”

Rhiannon shook her head. Despite this being the umpteenth time I had raised this concern, she still answered gently. I knew it was because she felt the same. Normally should would not humor me so much.

“No, we would not have been allowed to take her at all without using the prophecy as justification. Or at least not immediately. This way, they can’t hide her or rally a larger political opposition, and we can care for her.”

I snorted. Rhiannon just sighed.

“Doctor Mortona is the best. And she is completely independent from my father. You saw how well she handled things just now – there are only a few doctors in the empire as skilled at treating people who have been isolated within the Order’s rules and away from medical practitioners.”

Instead of calming me, that only made me more concerned, and I lapsed back into silence. It was clear from the Saintess’s reaction that she had never been treated by a doctor before. That was not unique in and of itself – there were entire communities around the empire where doctors were scarce or even actively distrusted and rejected in favor of temple healers – but most cities and estates had both. The two methods of healing could be complementary, and under Imperial law it was actually illegal to withhold official medical care. Even the Grand Temple had resident doctors. Thus, the only reason for the High Priest to have prevented them from treating the Saintess was to hide something. I did not enjoy sitting here wondering if that something was only her regularly consuming Holy Water, or if there was more they had concealed.

Our position was precarious. We had only barely managed to coordinate our departure with the Saintess, and our narrow success was primarily due to the urgency of her prophecy and Rhiannon’s presence. The temple had insisted on sending three priests with the Saintess, including Priest Emilia.  As far as I could tell, none of them were particularly high-ranking, and I had to wonder why they had not forced us to bring someone like Priest Kielan along. Rhiannon thought it was a sign of discord within the Council, and that the real reason we had succeeded was some unseen schism and not our planning. I did not enjoy that thought either.

Drip, drip, drip, drip…

The rain slowed, and a small leak in the far corner of the tent slowly soaked an ornate rug. Neither Rhiannon nor I moved to fix it. It had been a long two nights of sleeplessness and strategizing.

A shadow moved at the tent’s entrance, and I went on alert automatically, not out of any sense of alarm but because I was with Rhiannon and protecting her was ingrained in me as an imperial soldier. Doctor Mortona came in, followed by a furtive-looking Priest Emilia.

It seemed the doctor was here to make her report, and I raised my eyebrows at the priestess’s presence. Doctor Mortona shrugged. “She was waiting outside the Saintess’ tent. I did not tell her anything yet.”

Rhiannon pursed her lips consideringly. “I’m not sure if you ought to be here now, Priest Emilia.”

The frail-looking woman drew herself up defiantly.

“I have cared for her since she was first brought to the temple, almost twenty years ago. No one else is more qualified to be here.”

The words ‘cared for her’ rankled after all we had seen at the temple. I scowled and made to speak, but Rhiannon held up a hand to stop me.

“With all due respect, priestess, that remains to be seen.”

The Priest Emilia looked indignant, but to her credit she did not continue to argue and simply stood her ground. I wanted to kick her out on principle, but it was not as if either I or Rhiannon had better qualifications as a guardian, and our balancing act with the temple authority had to continue if we were to succeed. If it became clear this woman had been complicit in abuse, though, things would change. I would make sure of it.

Rhiannon turned to the doctor, who looked weary.

“I refuse to tell any of you my conclusions before I can talk more with the Saintess, so it is perhaps a non-issue right now.”

Rhiannon frowned. “We need to know some things, Elia. Lives are at stake.”

Doctor Mortona’s eyes flashed. “Rhia, do not condescend to me. Your father could not use such words to compromise my integrity and neither can you.”

Flinching slightly, Rhiannon gritted her teeth. There were not many people who could make the first princess flinch. “Nevertheless, I must ask you to share what your conscience allows. Possible abuses by the temple aside, potential prosecutions of these abuses aside, it is a long journey northward and we must consider if it is even feasible for her. Not to mention determining whether she is fit to give more prophecies.”

My stomach twisted, but I held my peace. I trusted Rhiannon would not force the Saintess into anything, but the mention of more prophecies was abhorrent. I could almost sense the urns of stored holy water in the tent nearby.

The doctor sighed heavily. “Yes. And in a situation like this, I would prefer to consult a patient’s family. She is an adult, but it is my professional opinion that due to her history she does not have enough of an understanding regarding her rights or how treatment works for her to navigate her options in an informed way. But frankly, none of the people present here can be considered impartial. For the record, I do not like this. If I could choose, she would stay in a facility for long term recovery and counseling.”

She paused, making eye contact with each of us in turn, before continuing.

“However, given the circumstances and your urgency, and the fact that I cannot stay here myself, I will share what I believe to be relevant to her care. Only that for now.”

“You can’t stay?” I asked, a bit dismayed.

Doctor Mortona’s eyes were kinder when she looked at me this time. “No. She is not in critical condition at the moment, and I have patients in Diel who need renewed treatment before the month is out. I will return to meet you when I can, though; she needs to begin long-term care as soon as possible, and I would like to have my statements on the record as you proceed.”

I opened my mouth, but before I could ask anything further, she continued.

“I am not done with my evaluation, and I don’t have a simple diagnosis to share even if I were going to tell any of you. Once I do, I will inform her, and sharing that information is her choice. She needs a few more hours of rest before I continue. When I next speak with her, I can ask her if she will allow you to be present. If she says no, though, that is the end of it. Even you, Rhia.”

Looking resigned, Rhiannon nodded. I considered our travel plans. We were almost at Corfin, the city where Rhiannon and the Second Company would part ways. Rhiannon would start campaigning openly against the temple and her brother in court in the Capital, assembling her network of political allies, and I would lead my knights toward the site of the last prophecy with the Saintess in tow. If we left at dawn and traveled at the same pace we had been, we could arrive in Corfin by late afternoon.

“Then I will delay our next leg until tomorrow.”

“Erik, that could be too late.”

“If Doctor Mortona cannot accompany us, I don’t want to risk more travel until she has been fully assessed.”

Rhiannon held my gaze for a long moment before nodding. “You’re right, of course. I can spare one more day. Particularly if we can gather testimony from you regarding her condition, Doctor Mortona. I know – only with the Saintess’s consent.”

Priest Emilia spoke up now. She was not privy to any of our plans, and as a temple representative, hearing us allude to opposing the temple must be alarming and exciting for her. I was certain she and the other two priests had been tasked with sending intel on our movements to the temple. Rhiannon and I had discussed this before – we would let them. We planned to start feeding them incorrect information soon as they gain confidence in their intelligence.

What she said surprised me, though.

“You all brought Holy Water with you. Does that mean – when will she be required to give another Ceremony? She needs at least a week of rest.”

I was not sure if her question was prompted by genuine concern or something else, but it was apparent that she did not trust us.

Rhiannon smiled graciously at her.

“That will depend on her health and her own will, Priest Emilia.”

The priestess looked relieved, and I could not tell if it was sincere. I felt restless. I had known from the beginning that we would have to ask the Saintess to give us more prophecies – we could not manage the incursions even as it was now, and Rhiannon was an imperial first, bound to serve the people. She had already risked a great deal just to remove the Saintess from the temple. But now that we knew more about where the prophecies came from, my conscience ached.

I glanced at Doctor Mortona, half-hoping she would object to Rhiannon’s words where I could not, but she only looked grave and impassive before turning to Priest Emilia.

“Priestess, let us discuss the treatments the Saintess has received in the past. And please describe her symptoms after Ceremonies and what they entailed.” She glanced at us. “Rhia, where can we talk privately?”

Rhiannon got up to guide them to a different tent, and I stayed behind. The flimsy table we had set up in the center of the tent was a mess, covered in various missives and drafts of different proposals for the court, and underneath it all was a large, worn map with demonic incursion sites marked. The variously aged shades of red ink used to mark each site as they occurred showed the passage of time just as much as the dates did; decades of incursions were recorded there. It was not comprehensive – records of every incursion fifty years and more ago were kept elsewhere, but I could remember those patterns as well. The trails of carnage were burned in my mind.

The Empire had always weathered the incursions, like regular storms, but chaos was increasing. Patterns were breaking, and there were precious few people in the Empire I trusted to help protect us all. I started reviewing the statistics from the last year of incursions. The data was burned in my mind alongside vivid memories of the incursions I had fought at, but I still read the papers again, searching desperately for a new insight. Outside, the rain fell heavily, the sound upsettingly soothing against the facts laid out before me.