This choice: "I'd like to stay the night and see if they reappear." • Go Back...Chapter #4Sex, torture, other by: Yote   "I'd like to stay through the night and see if these shadows creatures reappear. If so, I will do my best to remove them from your land, and will send word to your lord to send aid. If not... well, it may be your granddaughter had it right, perhaps this isn't work for a wizard. Perhaps a farmer would be more appropriate?"
"I assure you, sir, the creatures will come!" Joshua exclaims, wringing his hands.
You have him worried, but you don't much care - to think, bringing you out all this way to the backside of beyond on a simple matter of duplicated grain. Everyone knows there's a reason you don't buy from goblins; you always run the risk of buying duplicated items. Sooner or later the magic sustaining them breaks down, and so does your purchase. That's all this is, a simple matter of faulty goods. These "shadows" are nothing more than a fabrication.
"May you excuse me," you say, rising from the fire. "I intend to rest before the night's sentry."
"Of course. There is accommodation prepared for you. We are a humble people, but I pray you find it comfortable."
You thank him as a man of the village steps forward to take your bags and escort you to one of the rudimentary huts that lies on the edge of the settlement.
-----------
The elder watches the wizard leave, concerned and angry. His granddaughter stares into the fire, untroubled. Trembling, he points an accusatory finger at her. "Y-you impudent child! You should not have angered him! You should not have spoken at all!" he hisses. "Now we will all starve and it's all your fault!"
Her surprise is brief, turning quickly to outrage. "My fault?! All I said was the truth!"
"Truth will not feed us when the snows come, granddaughter. Truth will not keep our young ones warm in the dark, cold months. That man is a god and you choose to insult him!"
"How dare you say that? He is no god. That is blasphemy."
"With one wave of his hand, he could solve all of our problems, and more. With another, he could smite us from the earth. He has more power in his little finger than your Goddess has in her body."
The two glare at each other across the fire. Ilia suspects she would have hit him already, were he not so old. "We will not starve," she states resolutely. "The Mother provides."
Slowly Joshua nods, his gaze flitting down to the silver pendant that hangs around her neck. "Aye... Perhaps she will..."
She follows his gaze, her eyes growing wide as she realizes his intention, her hand clutching the precious pendant tightly. "This is not yours to sell, old man. Mother left it to me."
"You may find explaining that to starving men difficult, my child. If you wish to keep it, you should seek to persuade the wizard to aid us. And if he cannot be persuaded, we will have to make sure he doesn't leave. Our plight will become his plight, once winter sets in."
"Persuade him?" Ilia scoffs. "Enlighten me, how do you persuade a "god"."
Joshua hesitates, aware that he is about to cross a line. Sadly it is a line they may have to cross if they are to survive. "It is simple, my dear..."  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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