At this point, Jessica, I must digress from my telling of the tale as so to detail certain events which took place out of my direct presence. Of course, I was able to later learn from quite reliable sources what had occurred, but nonetheless I cannot testify with precise accuracy as to details, so I do hope that you will forgive me for any dramatic embellishments.
The man paused on the threshold, taking a moment to compose himself. He was tall and rangy, his face too sharply angled, as if chiseled out of elemental rock, and his nose too prominent for him to be called handsome, but there was strength, vigor, determination, and even empathy in his expression. He was a man of power--that easy confidence never came without it--but he was also a man who used that power with compassion. His armor was a mirror-finish black with scarlet straps and tan plates, his helmet brilliant red edged with white.
His name was Dyne, and he was the Dragonmaster of the Goddess Althena, the human champion who bore with him the magic of Althena's Four Dragons and worked her will throughout Lunar. He was reputed to be fearless by the populace at large, and yet he was forced to steel his heart before he crossed through the archway.
Nonetheless, seeing her, as always, took his breath away. Clad in a long white gown, azure hair spilling over her bare shoulders and down her back, Althena's beauty was incomparable, the perfection of feature quite literally inhuman. It was not this alone, however, which made Dyne's heart melt, for there were many people, places, and things of great beauty in the world. It was the woman inside whose hopes and sorrows he had come to know through years of service that so moved him.
"My lady, you summoned me?"
She smiled sadly at him, a smile weighed down by too many cares and worries, too many responsibilities that should not have had to be borne by one person, Goddess or not.
"Yes, Dyne. I understand that we had several most distinguished" --was there a sarcastic lilt in her voice?-- "representatives of Meribia's merchant nobility visit the Shrine today?"
"Yes, my lady, they-"
"Dyne," she said in gentle reproof, "please spare me the formality. It is so trying to have to accept it on public occasions, without having to take it from those who are closest to me."
"My apologies; it is not easy to treat the Goddess as one would a simple friend."
"Yes, I know." For a moment, her sapphire eyes became distracted, focused upon something beyond the room. Dyne wondered if she was gazing into unknown horizons with senses beyond the norm, or merely caught in some private thought. "But then," she finally said, "I have interrupted you. Do forgive me and go on."
"Thank you. The noble" --there was no question about Dyne's voice; he was definitely being sarcastic-- "representatives of House de Alkirk came to request our aid in dealing with a private matter. It seems that the daughter of the House, one Amelie, was kidnapped by pirates, and they are seeking your assistance in rescuing her. Apparently they are not strong believers in free will."
"Dyne, you are not being kind. Think of the poor girl."
He sighed.
"You're right, my la--Althena. I'd allowed my distaste for the Meribians to get the better of me. Especially the leader, the girl's uncle. The other envoys aren't family, so I could excuse it on their part, but he at least ought to care for her."
"He is here," noted the Goddess.
"Not to help her. He's here to save the family the ransom money which they'd have to pay or else lose face in the marketplace. For all he cares about Amelie, the pirates could keep her."
"I am surprised he shows it so openly. He must know that it will not serve him here."
"If you work every day in a sewer, you eventually can't smell the stench. His stench is his own greed, and he's worn it so long he can't tell he gives it off."
Althena shook her head sadly.
"I feel sorry for him, as well as his niece."
Dyne considered for a moment the likelihood that the kidnapped girl was cut from the same cloth, then dismissed it. Cynical remarks were more the province of his best friend, the master magician Ghaleon, who often accompanied the Dragonmaster on his quests.
"So do I, but no more sorry than I do for the hundreds in Meribia's lower classes who suffer from poverty because of de Alkirk's greed, his and that of those like him."
Althena sighed heavily, running her hand along the intricately carved side of a pillar.
"My poor children. So often, they make the same mistakes." She shook her head in--pity? Frustration? Regret? Dyne could not tell. "And then, of course, they come to me, to us, to save them from the consequences of their own actions."
"Which is why you don't have your priests, not to mention me, running off to the four corners of the world to deal with every goblin and bandit that gets out of hand. That's why there are adventurers, town guards, and local governments."
"Exactly," she agreed with a nod.
"Would it offend you if I confessed that I enjoyed it when the High Priest told that to de Alkirk?"
Althena smiled gently at that.
"Of course not, Dyne, although it really isn't fair."
"I'm only human, Althena. I get to have bad habits."
"Oh, no, I didn't mean that, although you shouldn't take pleasure in another's misfortune, no matter how obnoxious he might be."
Since that was exactly what Dyne had thought she'd meant, he regarded the Goddess quizzically.
"If not that, then why is it not fair?"
"Have the envoys left yet?"
"No; it was too late for them to travel on, so they were given room in the priests' dormitory for the night. I think they plan to leave for Vane in the morning. De Alkirk might be able to get an overly mercenary or romantic magician to help him, though I doubt the Magic Guild will take an official hand in matters. Although, come to think of it, you'd think a Meribian merchant-lord would have a hedge-wizard or three on staff already. Well, the Magic Guild does train the best... Why did you want to know if they'd gone?"
"It makes things easier this way, Dyne. I want you to tell de Alkirk that you will help him."
"What?" Dyne yelped. He nearly began his sentence with a curse of "Althena's eyes!" but realized how ridiculous that would be in present company. "Why, of all people, would you bend the rules to help him?"
"I... can feel something," she said. Althena turned to the window and gazed out at the night sky, where the Blue Star hung against the sable background. "I can sense it on the wind, in the currents of magic. Something is rising, something fell and dark. There is a connection here, I am sure of it, Dyne. I may not be omniscient, but I know that certain threads will come together. If you find the girl soon enough, you will be led straight to the darkness."
Dyne bowed his head. As the Dragonmaster, it was his duty to wield the magic of Althena and the Four Dragons in the world. He was their guardian and their champion. Pirates might have been for navies and adventurers to seek out, but supernatural evil was precisely why he wore the silly-looking red hat (dragons were never great with the fashion sense).
"Besides, Dyne, before you took on that silly-looking helmet--though that beret you used to go around in was hardly an improvement--"
Nearly omniscient beings should not be allowed to have sarcastic senses of humor! groused Dyne mentally.
"--you would have been after those pirates in a second. A shipload of cutthroats, an innocent girl taken prisoner... it was meat and drink to the young man who went on to become my Dragonmaster. Just because Miss Amelie de Alkirk has an offensive uncle is no reason to leave her at the mercy of kidnapping pirates."
"How about if I just trade the uncle to the pirates for the girl?"
The sound of the Goddess's laughter put a song in Dyne's heart.